Nine people arrested in Italy for allegedly raising millions of dollars for Hamas

Italian police have arrested nine suspects accused of raising around €7m (£6m) for Hamas over more than two years.

The money was ostensibly for humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians, but was actually sent to the armed group through a “complex fundraising system,” a police statement said.

As well as the arrests, police said they had seized more than €8m (£7m) in assets as part of the investigation.

Police said the suspects are “specifically accused of conducting financing activities believed to facilitate terrorist activities.”

The arrests were part of a joint operation by Italy’s anti-terror police and financial police.

The investigation began after Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

Police said they analyzed “a series of suspicious financial transaction reports” involving a number of suspects before the attack.

The statement added that investigators uncovered a “sophisticated” fundraising system based in Genoa with branches in Milan.

“The suspects raised donations for Gaza civilians, however, more than 71 percent of these funds were transferred to Hamas’s coffers to fund its military wing and support the families of suicide bombers or those detained for terrorism,” the police statement said.

Interior Minister Matteo Piandosi said the most prominent of the arrested suspects was Mohamed Hannon, president of the Italian Palestine Association.

Hannon has previously called accusations that he is a Hamas financier a “lie.”

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