Italian law enforcement has arrested nine individuals involved with three charities for funneling funds to the terror group Hamas, the Associated Press reported Sunday.
Prosecutors allege that the suspects sent over $8 million to “associations based in Gaza, the Palestinian territories, or Israel, owned, controlled, or linked to Hamas.”
Investigators claim that the funds were intended to be used to support Hamas’ criminal activities and attacks on civilians, and not for humanitarian purposes. Mohammad Hannoun, the head of the Palestinian Association in Italy and a fundraising leader, diverted 71 percent of donations to the military wing of Hamas, Euro News reported.
Hannoun, a man who prosecutors called the “head of the Italian cell of the Hamas organization,” was the most notable figure to be arrested.
Italian Minister of the Interior Matteo Piantedosi said in a statement on X that, because of the arrests, “the veil has been torn on behaviors and activities that, behind the screen of initiatives in favor of Palestinian populations, concealed support and participation in organizations with true and proper terrorist aims of an Islamist matrix.”
“I am grateful to the Chief of Police, to the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor, and to the magistrates of the Genoa District Directorate for how they have coordinated such professionalism, contributing to the development of an investigation of extraordinary importance,” his statement continued. “This result encourages us in the work of further strengthening our Law Enforcement Agencies that we have been carrying out for three years and that we will continue as long as we are entrusted with the responsibility of Government.
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