Arrested Hamas-Linked Fighter Faces Judge in Louisiana

A Louisiana man suspected of assisting Hamas in its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel made his first court appearance before a magistrate judge on Friday.

The FBI arrested Mahmoud Amin Ya’qub Al-Muhtadi on Thursday, according to the Justice Department. The alleged Hamas-affiliated fighter was living in Lafayette, in the heart of the state’s Cajun Country.

Federal agents say Al-Muhtadi is an operative for the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DRLP), the National Resistance Brigades—a Hamas-aligned paramilitary group in Gaza that participated in the attack against Israel.

Federal prosecutors say Al-Mutadi armed himself and recruited other fighters to enter Israel during the Hamas-led attack.

“After hiding out in the United States, this monster has been found and charged with participating in the atrocities of October 7—the single deadliest day for Jewish people since the Holocaust,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.

He also faces charges of fraud and misuse of his U.S. immigration visa, permits, and other documents.

“Evidence shows that on the morning of October 7, 2023, Al-Muhtadi learned about the Hamas invasion, armed himself, gathered others, and crossed into Israel with the intention of assisting in Hamas’s terrorist attack,” an FBI agent stated in court documents.

The DFLP’s military wing has participated in terrorist attacks on Israel over the years and, at one time, was designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department. It was delisted in 1999, but continues to be a U.S. Treasury specially designated global terrorist organization.

Prosecutors say evidence shows that Al-Muhtadi’s phone used a cell tower located near Kibbutz Kfar Aza in Israel, the location of a massacre by Hamas and its supporters.

Al-Muhtadi also allegedly provided false information in his U.S. visa application relating to his involvement with a paramilitary organization, connection to Hamas, participation in a terrorist attack, and military training, the FBI reported in court documents.

“As a result of that false application, Al-Muhtadi was able to obtain permission to travel to the United States and obtain Legal Permanent Resident status,” the FBI stated.

The United States has designated Hamas as a terrorist organization.

Prosecutors say Al-Muhtadi was alerted on social media of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack by about 6:30 a.m., just after it started. At 8:12 a.m., the defendant allegedly told others he intended to cross into Israel.

Al-Muhtadi allegedly spent the next two hours coordinating a group of armed fighters to join him in traveling from Gaza into Israel to participate in Hamas’s attack, according to court documents.

By 10 a.m., Al-Muhtadi was allegedly in the vicinity of a cell tower near Kfar Aza, a kibbutz where Hamas and its supporters killed about 60 citizens and kidnapped 19 others, including one American. Four Americans were among those killed in the Kfar Aza attack.

In May, Israel provided the United States with information that Al-Muhtadi was a DFLP operative and member of its military wing that participated in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack, court documents show.

Al-Muhtadi allegedly electronically signed and submitted an immigrant visa application in June 2024, saying he was born in Gaza. He indicated he was not a member of a paramilitary group and had not engaged in terrorist activities, among other allegedly false statements, court documents stated.

On the application, he said he intended to live in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to work in car repairs or food services, prosecutors claimed. He arrived on Sept. 12, 2024, at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

Federal agents located Al-Muhtadi in Lafayette, Louisiana, working at a local restaurant.

The case remains under investigation, according to the Department of Justice.