Italian authorities arrested nine people accused of raising about €7 million, reported as $8.2 million, and directing much of it to Hamas under the cover of humanitarian fundraising for Gaza. The suspects retain the presumption of innocence, and the allegations have not been tested at trial.
The operation involved Italy’s state police and Guardia di Finanza financial police. Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi identified Mohammad Hannoun, president of the Palestinian Association in Italy, as the best-known person arrested. Hannoun has denied being a Hamas financier.
The joint counterterrorism and financial investigation began after the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel by Hamas and Islamic Jihad and the subsequent Gaza war. Authorities said the fundraising structure was based in Genoa with associates in Milan and operated over the following two years.
Investigators allege that three charities solicited contributions described as support for Palestinian civilians. A police statement said 71 percent of the collected money was instead transferred to Hamas, helping finance its military wing and supporting families of suicide bombers or people imprisoned for terrorism.
Authorities also accused Hannoun and the other defendants of laundering the funds to conceal their true destination. The supplied evidence did not name the three charities, detail individual transfers or specify the criminal charges against each of the nine people. Those facts will be central to any prosecution.
Piantedosi said the investigation exposed activity hidden behind initiatives presented as aid for Palestinians. He described the alleged recipients as organizations with terrorist aims, while explicitly acknowledging that the defendants must be presumed innocent at this stage.
Hamas is designated a foreign terrorist organization by the United States and numerous other governments. The supplied report did not specify which Italian or European designation provisions formed the legal basis of the arrests, so the case should not be reduced to the U.S. classification alone.
The central evidentiary question is tracing. Prosecutors must show where donations originated, how they moved through the charities, who controlled the transactions and whether recipients were connected to Hamas’s military activity. The claim that 71 percent was diverted is an investigative conclusion that will require financial records and courtroom proof.
The case also separates donors’ possible intentions from the conduct alleged against organizers. People may have contributed believing the money would benefit Gaza’s civilian population. The evidence packet did not allege that ordinary contributors knowingly supported Hamas.
For Italian authorities, the arrests mark the operational result of a two-year inquiry. For the defendants, they begin a legal process in which the state must substantiate claims of terrorist financing and money laundering. Until then, the €7 million figure, the 71 percent diversion rate and the purpose of the transfers remain allegations attributed to police.
