ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF
Updated:

Italian police arrested nine people on suspicion of raising millions of dollars for Hamas, Italian officials and police confirmed on Saturday. 

Three associations that claimed to support Palestinian civilians are also implicated, allegedly serving as a front for Hamas funding, police announced in a statement. 

The nine individuals are suspected to have raised around $8 million to fund "associations based in Gaza, the Palestinian territories, or Israel, owned, controlled, or linked to Hamas," according to the police.

The funds were disguised as humanitarian aid for Palestinian citizens, but police stated that over 71% was intended to directly finance Hamas, Agence France-Presse reported.  

"Family members [of terrorists] implicated in terrorist attacks" were the beneficiaries of much of the funding, according to the statement.

Members of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas and mourners attend the funeral of Al-Qassam fighters who were killed during the war between Israel and Hamas in the Al-Shati camp, in Gaza City, February 28, 2025.
Members of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas and mourners attend the funeral of Al-Qassam fighters who were killed during the war between Israel and Hamas in the Al-Shati camp, in Gaza City, February 28, 2025. (credit: Khalil Kahlout/Flash90)

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni released a statement on social media expressing "appreciation and satisfaction" regarding the investigation that led to the arrests.

"I express my most heartfelt thanks, both personal and on behalf of the entire Government, to all those who made this operation possible," Meloni said.

Mohammad Hannoun

Mohammad Hannoun, president of the Palestinian Association in Italy, was among those arrested, according to a statement posted to X by the Italian Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi.

Investigators described Hannoun as "the leader of the Italian cell of the Hamas organization" and "a member of the foreign branch of the terrorist organization Hamas," according to Meloni.

Hannoun was labeled as "an Italy-based Hamas member" by the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in 2024. In a press release, OFAC credited him with sending Hamas over four million dollars over a 10-year period.

His charity, Associazione Benefica di Solidarietà con il Popolo Palestinese (ABSPP) was listed in the release as "a sham charity in Italy which ostensibly raises funds for humanitarian purposes, but in reality helps bankroll Hamas’s military wing."