The US blames the leadership of Hamas for the attack on Israel on October 7

The United States has blamed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and other prominent members of the Palestinian group for its attack on Israel on October 7 last year.

The Justice Department said it is charging six members of Hamas with crimes including murder of American citizens, conspiracy to finance terrorism and use of weapons of mass destruction.

The criminal complaint covers decades of attacks by Hamas, as well as an unprecedented attack in southern Israel almost a year ago.

It is the first step by US law enforcement to hold the ringleaders of the October 7 attack to account, although up to three of those named in the indictment are dead and Sinwar is believed to be hiding in a tunnel somewhere under Gaza.

In a video statement on Tuesday, Mr Garland said the defendants were responsible for “funding and directing a decades-long campaign to kill American citizens and endanger the security of the United States”.

The group also “led Hamas’ efforts to destroy the state of Israel and kill civilians in support of that goal”.

He commented on the attack on Israel on October 7 by Hamas, in which the group “killed entire families” in “the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust”.

“They killed adults and then killed young children. They armed violence against women, including rape and genital mutilation.”

He added that during the attack the group “killed more than 1,200 people” and “committed the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust”.

Other indicted Hamas leaders include former leader Ismail Haniyeh; Marwan Issa, deputy leader of the organization’s armed wing; Khaled Mashaal, who leads the group outside of Gaza and the West Bank; and Mohammed Deif and Ali Baraka.

The charges include conspiracy to detonate a bomb in a public place resulting in death, conspiracy to finance terrorism and support terrorist acts resulting in death.

The complaint of the department of justice notes that all “the defendants are dead or still at large”.

Haniyeh, Issa and Deif were all reported to have been killed in the past few months in attacks claimed or attributed to Israel.

The attorney general spoke in remarks Tuesday about last week’s killing of American-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, in addition to 42 other American citizens who were killed in the Oct. 7 attack and 10 were kidnapped.

“We are investigating Hersh’s murder, and Hamas’ brutal killing of Americans, as an act of terrorism,” Mr Garland said.

If convicted, the group faces a maximum sentence of life in prison or the death penalty.

The charges were filed in February, but were kept under wraps until Tuesday in case the United States had a chance to arrest any of the suspects, an unnamed Justice Department official told CBS News, the BBC’s American partner.

Over the weekend, President Joe Biden condemned the Hamas killing of Goldberg-Polin, saying it was “as bad as it is a crime”.

“Make no mistake, the leaders of Hamas will pay for this crime,” Mr Biden said.

Meanwhile, the UK has defended its decision to block arms sales to Israel about concerns about how they might be used in Gaza.

Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing approximately 1,200 people and abducting 251 others.

More than 40,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then in Israel’s ongoing military campaign, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the area.