NEW ORLEANS: The FBI has accused a Louisiana resident of participating in the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, then lying about his past and fraudulently obtaining a visa to live in the US
According to an FBI criminal complaint unsealed this week, Mahmoud Amin Ya’qub Al-Muhtadi armed himself and gathered a group to cross from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel during the attack that left more than 1,200 people dead.
Hamas fighters also kidnapped more than 250 people, including dozens of American citizens, during the raid. This week, Hamas released the 20 remaining living hostages after the two sides agreed to a tenuous ceasefire in the Palestinian territory.
Al-Muhtadi was an operative of the Gaza-based military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, according to the complaint prepared by FBI Supervisory Special Agent Alexandria M. Thoman O’Donnell and submitted to a federal judge on Oct. 6. O’Donnell serves on a task force investigating the murder and kidnapping of American citizens during the attack two years ago.
On his US visa application, Al-Muhtadi denied he had ever been involved in terrorist activities, and became a legal permanent resident in 2024, the complaint says.
