The Israel Police has criticized the country's State Attorney for having failed to produce indictments against Hamas leaders, after the U.S. Department of Justice announced such indictments on Tuesday, Kan News reported on Wednesday.
The American charges were filed in February but were kept sealed until this week.
"The indictment filed in the United States is based, among other things, on evidence compiled in Israel and given to the American investigators, while 11 months have passed and [in Israel] there are no indictments," a source in the police's special crimes unit, Lahav 433, told the Israeli public broadcaster.
The official added that continued failure to submit such indictments "would cause damage, burnout of investigators, erosion of the evidence and a significant delay in presenting the results to the victims' families."
Kan News reported in July that indictments and prosecution against the terrorists imprisoned in Israel are not expected soon because of fears that if such indictments are filed with a possible death penalty clause, it could put the hostages being held by Hamas in danger and harm the prospects of a ceasefire agreement to secure their release.
Merrick Garland, the U.S. attorney general, announced the charges on Tuesday evening in a recorded message. He said that Yahya Sinwar and other Hamas leaders oversaw "a decades-long campaign to murder American citizens and endanger the national security of the United States."
"On Oct. 7, Hamas terrorists, led by these defendants, murdered nearly 1,200 people, including over 40 Americans, and kidnapped hundreds of civilians," said Garland. "This weekend, we learned that Hamas murdered an additional six people they had kidnapped and held captive for nearly a year, including Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a 23-year-old Israeli American."
The federal government is investigating Goldberg-Polin's murder, and that "each and every one of Hamas's brutal murders of Americans, as an act of terrorism," he continued.
"The charges unsealed today are just one part of our effort to target every aspect of Hamas's operations," he said. "These actions will not be our last."
The newly unsealed complaint charges Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh, Mohammed Deif, Marwan Issa, Khaled Mashaal, and Ali Baraka with seven counts each related to the Oct. 7 attacks. These include conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals and to use weapons of mass destruction resulting in death.
Haniyeh, Deif and Issa are reportedly dead. Meshaal and Baraka are based in Qatar and Lebanon, respectively, while Sinwar is believed to be in the Gaza Strip.
A Justice Department official told CBS News that the charges filed in a federal court in New York City were not made public until now "to position the United States to be ready to take into custody the leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, and other charged defendants."
The official continued: "Following Haniyah's death and recent developments in the region, it was no longer necessary to keep those charges under seal."
"The Justice Department has a long memory," Garland said in the recorded message. "We will pursue the terrorists responsible for murdering Americans, and those who illegally provide them with material support, for the rest of their lives."
Dated Feb. 1, the complaint notes that on Oct. 7, more than 2,000 Hamas fighters massacred more than 1,000 people and kidnapped more than 200 others. It adds that the terrorists "weaponized sexual violence against Israeli women, including rape and genital mutilation."
"As of the date of this complaint, at least 43 American citizens were among those murdered, and at least 10 American citizens were taken hostage or remain unaccounted for," per the complaint.
The document also describes the "instrumental" role that Iran and Hezbollah played in supporting Hamas and enabling it to carry out the Oct. 7 attacks.
The department added that the FBI is continuing to investigate the case.
Republished with permission from Jewish News Syndicate