Italian police said on Saturday they had arrested seven people who raised millions of euros for the Palestinian militant group Hamas. The police also issued arrest warrants for two persons located outside Italy. TASR informs about it according to the report of the AFP agency.
Three associations officially supporting the Palestinians of civilians allegedly serve as a front organization for financing Hamas and according to the police statement, they are under investigation. Nine people are accused of providing approximately seven million euros to “associations based in Gaza, the Palestinian territories, or Israel, owned, controlled, or connected to Hamas.”
Police say that although the official purpose of the three associations mentioned was collections “for humanitarian purposes for the Palestinian people.” more than 71 percent of the percent was intended to directly finance Hamas or entities connected to the movement. Part of the money went “family members involved in terrorist attacks,” the police said in a statement.
Italian media reported that Mohammad Hannoun is among the detained personsthe leader of the Palestinian Association in Italy. Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said on the X social network that this police operation “revealed behavior and activities that, under the guise of initiatives for the benefit of the Palestinian population, hid support for and participation in terrorist organizations.”
