The Charitable Façade: Unpacking Italy's €8 Million Hamas Financing Bust

 

On a quiet winter morning, Italian financial police and counter-terrorism units moved with coordinated precision across multiple cities. By day's end, nine individuals were in custody and assets worth more than €8 million were frozen. This dramatic operation, spearheaded by Genoa's District Anti-Mafia and Anti-Terrorism Directorate on December 27, 2025, did more than make arrests—it ripped open a complex web of international financing, exposing how designated terrorist organizations can exploit European goodwill and financial systems for years under the cover of charitable work.At the heart of this network stands Mohammed Hannoun, a 63-year-old who has operated within Italy's associative landscape for decades. As the president of the Association of Palestinians in Italy (API) and the founder of the Associazione Benefica di Solidarietà con il Popolo Palestinese (ABSPP), Hannoun projected an image of a dedicated humanitarian advocate. However, prosecutors allege this was a meticulously maintained façade. The investigation, which began long before the tragic events of October 7, 2023, concluded that Hannoun was the alleged leader of an Italian cell for Hamas’s foreign operations wing.

A Decade of Diversion: Tracing the Money Trail

The scale of the alleged financial diversion is staggering. According to court documents, the network utilized three main associations: the original ABSPP founded in 1994, a second ABSPP entity established in 2003, and a newly created organization, "La Cupola d'Oro" (The Golden Dome), set up in Milan in December 2023. Investigators state that more than seventy-one percent of all donations collected by these groups were systematically channeled to entities controlled by or linked to Hamas.This was not a simple matter of bank transfers. The suspects demonstrated a sophisticated understanding of financial oversight. After institutions like UniCredit and Poste Italiane closed accounts linked to Hannoun—following direct alerts from U.S. and Israeli authorities—the network simply created new associations to regain access to the financial system. This cat-and-mouse game highlights a critical vulnerability in monitoring non-profit financial flows.The final destinations of these funds, which totaled at least €7.3 million, reveal their true purpose. Money flowed to associations in Gaza and the West Bank that had been officially declared illegal by Israeli authorities due to their Hamas connections. A key recipient was Osama Alisawi, who served as the Transport Minister in Hamas's de facto government in Gaza from 2008 to 2014. Most alarmingly, Italian prosecutors presented evidence that portions of the funds were used to support the families of individuals who had carried out suicide attacks or were imprisoned for terrorism offenses. This practice, known as "martyr payments," is a well-documented Hamas strategy that serves to incentivize violence, recruit new members, and cement organizational loyalty, directly strengthening its operational capacity.

Hannoun’s Documented Network: From U.S. Sanctions to Brotherhood Ties

The December 2025 arrests were not Mohammed Hannoun's first appearance on the radar of international security forces. Over a year earlier, in October 2023, the U.S. Department of the Treasury took the significant step of designating both Hannoun and his ABSPP charity as terrorist financiers. The U.S. government stated that, for over ten years, Hannoun had used the charity as a front to raise and funnel at least $4 million to Hamas's military wing. This designation was a clear, official recognition of his role within the Hamas infrastructure.His network, however, extended far beyond a single charity. Hannoun also led the "Europeans for Al-Quds" coalition and served as a director for the "Palestinians in Europe Conference," a Berlin-based group that has hosted numerous senior Hamas representatives. This positioned him as a node within a broader European network of Hamas support, blending advocacy with finance.Perhaps the most revealing aspect of Hannoun's long-term activities is his connection to the political-ideological network of the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe. A documented meeting in 2010 at the Turkish Embassy in Rome placed Hannoun side-by-side with key figures. He attended as president of API alongside Izzeddin el-Zir, then president of the Union of Islamic Communities in Italy (UCOII), the primary organization representing the Muslim Brotherhood in Italy. The meeting also involved representatives of the "Union of Good," a coalition of charities led by global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi, which was later designated by the U.S. for funneling financial support to Hamas. This 2010 meeting is not a historical footnote; it is a concrete data point that illustrates how the operational financing of Hamas in Europe has been facilitated through alliances with the wider Muslim Brotherhood's organizational structures on the continent.

Implications and the Path Forward

The timing of the arrests underscores the persistent threat. In her detailed custody order, Judge Silvia Carpanini emphasized that Hannoun represented a "concrete and immediate flight risk." This assessment was based on intercepted communications which showed he was actively making plans to relocate to Turkey. Reports indicate he had already met in Turkey in December 2025 with Ali Baraka, identified by investigators as a senior Hamas foreign operations official, suggesting an active effort to reconstitute his operations abroad.The political response within Italy has been unequivocal. Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi stated the operation successfully "lifted the veil" on activities that cynically used humanitarian initiatives to mask support for terrorism. While Hannoun's defense maintains that the funds were collected peacefully for genuine humanitarian purposes, the sheer volume of evidence—from financial forensic analysis to intercepted communications showing expressions of approval for terrorist attacks—presents a formidable challenge to that narrative.This case transcends a single law enforcement victory. It serves as a critical case study with profound implications for European security policy, financial regulation, and humanitarian oversight. It demonstrates with painful clarity how charitable entities can be systematically hijacked, how illicit finance morphs to evade controls, and how deeply embedded these networks can become within the civic fabric. The €8 million seized is likely just a fraction of the total that has flowed through such channels over the years. The operation in Italy must serve as a catalyst for a more unified, proactive, and intelligent European approach to counter-terrorism financing—one that protects the integrity of genuine humanitarian aid while relentlessly disrupting the financial lifelines of those who seek to spread violence.