Louisiana Resident Accused of Aiding Hamas in 7 October Assault on Israel, American Prosecutors Say
US prosecutors have charged a Louisiana resident of taking part in the 7 October raid by Hamas on Israel, as per recently unsealed legal documents.
Mahmoud Amin Ya'qub al-Muhtadi, thirty-three, reportedly equipped himself and became part of a paramilitary group that fought alongside Hamas in the 2023 attack that killed over a thousand Israelis, triggering two years of conflict that killed thousands more.
Twelve months after the incident, he allegedly travelled to the United States on a fraudulent entry permit and obtained status as a permanent resident.
Mr al-Muhtadi was charged with providing, attempting to furnish or conspiring to deliver material support to a foreign terrorist organization and the deception and misuse of a visa or additional papers.
Reported Involvement with Militant Faction
Mr al-Muhtadi was reportedly an operative of the National Resistance Brigades, the armed branch of the DFLP, according to the legal filing filed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
He is accused of organizing a "unit of militants" to cross into Israeli territory upon hearing about the raid and asked one man to "carry the rifles", court documents show.
The suspect dispatched communications asking other persons to bring a bulletproof vest for a different individual and ammunition, prosecutors claim.
A short time after the October 7 assault started, his phone pinged a cell tower close to Kibbutz Kfar Aza, the location of a massacre, the records said.
Judicial Proceedings and Defense
The legal document indicated that Mr al-Muhtadi denied ever having been involved in acts of terror on his American immigration form.
Upon arriving to the United States, he resided in a few of locations before settling in Lafayette, Louisiana, where he was employed in a nearby eatery.
He was arrested on Thursday, the DOJ said.
In a hearing in Louisiana on the following day, he was questioned if he understood the allegations against him, an interpreter translated his response as "affirmative, but there are a lot of things stated in this document that are so false, I am not guilty", according to reports.
The court filings do not charge the defendant of particular offenses or homicides. US attorneys have in the past charged high-ranking individuals of Hamas with the deaths of American citizens on 7 October.
