Italian police seize 1.08 million euros in raids linked to Hamas financing probe

Italian police said on Sunday (December 28) officers had seized 1.08 million euros in cash during searches linked to an investigation into the alleged financing of Hamas through charities based in Italy.

The searches were ordered by prosecutors in the northern city of Genoa and carried out nationwide by police and financial investigators.

The confiscated cash was found in the offices of a pro-Palestinian charity and in the private homes of suspects, including inside a concealed compartment in a garage in the northern town of Sassuolo, authorities said.

Investigators also confiscated computers concealed inside a wall cavity at a property in the province of Lodi, as well as other electronic devices that will be analysed in the coming days. At one suspect’s home, police found a Hamas flag and other material linked to the Palestinian Islamist group, prosecutors said.

Italian prosecutors said on Saturday (December 27) they had arrested nine people on suspicion of financing Hamas through charities based in Italy, in an operation coordinated by anti-mafia and anti-terrorism units.

Those arrested allegedly diverted to Hamas-linked entities around 7 million euros ($8.2 million) raised over the last two years for ostensibly humanitarian purposes, prosecutors said.