By Tom Ozimek
Italian authorities have arrested nine people on suspicion of financing Hamas through a network of charities operating in Italy, prosecutors and police said on Dec. 27, in an investigation that uncovered what officials described as a large-scale diversion of donations meant to help the Palestinian people but that instead flowed to terrorists.
Prosecutors in the northern city of Genoa said the suspects are accused of “belonging to and having financed” Hamas. The arrests followed a two-year investigation that traced the alleged diversion of funds raised for ostensibly humanitarian purposes to entities linked to the terror group.
According to a statement from Italy’s national police, more than 71 percent of the funds collected by the charities were allegedly diverted to Hamas or organizations affiliated with the group. Investigators said the money was used to support Hamas, provide assistance to the families of suicide bombers, and aid individuals detained for terrorism-related offenses.
Italian police said the operation, code-named “Domino,” was carried out by national counterterrorism officers and financial crimes investigators, working jointly across Italy’s police and tax-enforcement agencies. Authorities seized assets worth about 8 million euros ($9.4 million) and said the suspects had financed Hamas-linked activities totaling roughly 7 million euros ($8.2 million).
Police said the probe uncovered a “complex fundraising system” operating through charitable organizations, adding that more than two-thirds of humanitarian donations were diverted into Hamas coffers.
The investigation was launched shortly after Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. It began with the analysis of suspicious financial transactions flagged before that date and later expanded through cooperation with Dutch authorities and other European Union countries, coordinated via Eurojust, the EU’s judicial agency.
Police said several of the arrested individuals were described by investigators as members of Hamas’s foreign network, including the alleged leader of the group’s Italian cell. Three additional suspects are accused of providing external support to a terrorist organization. Investigators said some of those involved maintained links with individuals based in Turkey who acted as intermediaries for transferring cash to Gaza.
“Intercepted communications openly referred to jihad and to the roles and tasks of the suspects, including expressions of approval for violence carried out in terrorist attacks. Documents recovered from the suspects’ servers showed evidence of military training of students and the celebration of ’martyrdom,’” Italian police said in a statement.
Reactions to Arrests
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni praised the operation, calling it “particularly complex and important” and thanking law enforcement and intelligence agencies for dismantling what she described as a terrorist financing network operating under the guise of humanitarian aid.
“I wish to express my appreciation and satisfaction for the particularly complex and important operation, which has led to the arrest of nine individuals accused of providing Hamas with over EUR 7 million in financing through a number of so-called charitable associations,” Meloni said in a statement.
Meloni specifically named Mohammad Mahmoud Ahmad Hannoun, president of the Association of Palestinians in Italy, whom investigators described as a “member of the foreign branch of the terrorist organisation Hamas” and the alleged “head of the Italian cell of the Hamas organisation.”
Italy’s interior minister, Matteo Piantedosi, said the arrests had exposed activities that authorities believe masked support for extremist groups.
“While fully respecting the presumption of innocence that must always apply at this stage, the veil has been torn away from conduct which, behind the screen of initiatives in favor of the Palestinian population, concealed support for and participation in organizations with genuine Islamist terrorist aims,” Piantedosi said in a post on X.
Attorneys representing the suspects were not immediately available for comment. However, the arrests prompted a sharp reaction from the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, which condemned the operation, rejected the allegations, and characterized the arrests as “repressive.”
“Today’s arrests are only the latest act of complicity and direct involvement with Zionist genocide in Palestine by the Italian state, which continues to deliberately act to besiege, starve, and criminalize the Palestinian people and their very existence,” Samidoun said in the statement.
The arrests were made amid heightened international attention on Hamas as diplomatic efforts continue around a fragile cease-fire in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier this month that the cease-fire brokered nearly two months ago between Israel and Hamas was expected to move soon into its second phase, which he said would involve disarming Hamas and demilitarizing the Gaza Strip.
“We’re about to finish the first stage,” Netanyahu said on Dec. 7, adding that the next phase would be discussed with U.S. President Donald Trump. Netanyahu’s office later confirmed the two leaders are scheduled to meet on Dec. 29, with talks expected to take place at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
The war in Gaza was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and resulted in more than 250 hostages being taken, according to Israeli tallies.
Reuters contributed to this report.
