The Justice Department has announced criminal charges against Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and other militants in connection with the Oct. 7 rampage in Israel. The criminal complaint filed in federal court in New York City includes charges of conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, resulting in death. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a video statement on Tuesday that the charges "are just one part of our effort to target every aspect of Hamas' operations." He said that "these actions will not be our last." The impact of the case may be mostly symbolic given that Sinwar is believed to be hiding out in tunnels.
Israeli troops have launched a new assault into the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. The military says they're targeting Hamas fighters who they claim still operate there despite repeated offensives. American, Qatari and Egyptian mediators have renewed their push for Israel and Hamas to reach a cease-fire deal. Israel said it would attend Aug. 15 talks called by the mediators. Evacuation orders triggered another exodus of Palestinians from eastern districts of Khan Younis. Israeli officials have said they believe Hamas' newly appointed top leader, Yahya Sinwar, could be hiding there.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas says it has chosen Yahya Sinwar, its top official in Gaza who masterminded the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, as its new leader. The choice of Sinwar, a secretive figure who leads Hamas' hardliners and is close to Iran, was a defiant step. Sinwar is at the top of Israel's kill list as it seeks to destroy Hamas and its leadership after the Oct. 7 attack. He replaces Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Iran last week in a presumed Israeli strike. Unlike Haniyeh, who had lived in exile in Qatar for years, Sinwar has remained in Gaza.
The Israeli military says it has confirmed that the head of Hamas' military wing was killed in an airstrike in Gaza in July. The announcement about Mohammed Deif comes a day after the assassination of Hamas' political chief in an airstrike in Iran. The killings have left U.S., Qatari and Egyptian mediators scrambling to salvage talks for a cease-fire deal in Gaza, even as international officials try to avert an all-out regional war. Hamas had no immediate comment on Israel's announcement of Deif's death. The militant group had previously said he survived the airstrike.
By ABBY SEWELL and KAREEM CHEHAYEB Associated Press
Updated
Hezbollah's leader warned that the militant group's conflict with Israel has entered a "new phase." He made the comments Thursday following the killing of a top Hezbollah commander in Beirut and Hamas' political chief in Tehran. Hassan Nasrallah spoke to a funeral ceremony for the commander, Fouad Shukur, who was killed in an Israeli strike in Beirut this week. In Tehran, Iran's supreme leader prayed over the body of Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader. Iran has vowed revenge for the killing of Haniyeh in a blast believed to have been carried out by Israel. The killings have raised fears of a wider war.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that Israel "will exact a heavy price from any aggression against us on any front." It was his first public statement since the killing of Hamas' top political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in an airstrike in Tehran. His comments didn't mention the killing. Both Hamas and Iran quickly blamed Israel for the shock assassination that risked escalating into an all-out regional war. The strike came hours after Israel targeted a top commander in Iran's ally Hezbollah in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
Thousands of ultranationalist Israelis have marched through a sensitive Palestinian area of Jerusalem in an annual procession, chanting racist slogans. Also on Wednesday, the country's far-right national security minister boasted that Jews had prayed at a key holy site in the city in violation of longstanding agreements. Both stoke regional tensions that are already high because of the war in Gaza. The march has in previous years ignited widespread tensions, as it did three years ago, when it helped set off an 11-day war in Gaza. The annual march commemorates "Jerusalem Day," which marks Israel's capture of east Jerusalem, including the Old City and its holy sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims, in the 1967 Mideast war.
