By Euronews
Published on
The Italian authorities have carried out a major operation coordinated by the Anti-Mafia District Directorate of Genoa against an alleged terrorist cell linked to Hamas. The State Police and the Guardia di Finanza applied precautionary measures against nine suspects, all of whom were to be remanded in custody, and ordered the seizure of assets worth more than eight million euros.
The investigation, which started from reports of suspicious financial transactions, unveiled a complex system of international currency triangulations.
The investigators accuse the suspects of being part of and actively financing the Hamas organisation. According to the investigation, the funds collected were not primarily intended for humanitarian purposes, but were used to support the movement’s criminal activities, including attacks against civilians. An estimated seven million euros were sent to Gaza and the Palestinian Territories to reinforce the group’s armed strategy.
Who are the suspects
At the centre of the scheme are several associations, including the Beneficial Association of Solidarity with the Palestinian People (ABSPP), based in Genoa. Mohammad Hannoun, indicated as the top figure of the Italian cell, is said to have managed the fund-raising by diverting over 71 per cent of the donations to articulations directly controlled by the military wing of Hamas. In order to evade international banking controls, the suspects allegedly constituted new acronyms, such as the association ‘The Golden Dome’.
The investigation, which began after the attack of 7 October 2023, benefited from cooperation with the authorities of the Netherlands and Israel, allowing for the monitoring of financial flows and the intercept of communications. Among the direct recipients of the funds were prominent figures such as Osama Alisawi, former minister of the Hamas government in Gaza. The money was also used to support the families of terrorists involved in suicide attacks, thus guaranteeing logistical and ideological continuity to the criminal structure.
Telephone tapping and the analysis of servers seized in Genoa, revealed documents describing the military training of young recruits and the glorification of ‘martyrs’. Some suspects were identified in photographs showing them in combat gear with the Al Qassam Brigades. These elements, according to the prosecution, confirm full subjective adherence to the terrorist programme and constant coordination with a wider network operating throughout Europe.
‘No mitigating circumstances’
“The investigations and the facts that have emerged through them cannot in any way detract from the importance of the crimes committed against the Palestinian population after 7 October 2023 in the course of the military operations undertaken by the Government of Israel, for which the judgement by the International Criminal Court is awaited, to be rendered in accordance with the Rome Statute, ratified by 125 Member States, among which, in a role of impulse and support, Italy”, the Italian State Police statement announcing the operation reads.
It goes on to add: “At the same time, such crimes cannot justify acts of terrorism (including those of 7 October 2023) carried out by Hamas and terrorist organisations linked to it against the civilian population, nor constitute a mitigating circumstance”.
“For the jurisprudence of legitimacy, in fact, terrorist acts constitute conduct which, even if committed in the context of armed conflicts, consists of violent conduct directed against the civilian population, even if present in territories that, under international law, must be considered illegitimately occupied,” the statement concludes.