On Saturday, December 27, the Italian State Police and the Financial Guard arrested seven Palestinians suspected of collecting millions of euros in support of Hamas. The Italian authorities also issued international arrests for two others, currently outside the country, who remain at large.
The leader of the Italian network has been identified as Mohammad Hannoun, a Genoa-based Palestinian architect, leader of the Association of Palestinians in Italy (API), who has been active on Italian soil since the early 1990s. The other arrested individuals are Raed Daoud, Raed al-Salahat, Yaser Elasaly, Riyad al-Bustanji. Khalil Abu Deiah, Adel Ibrahim Abu Rawwa, while Saleh Mohammed Abdu and former Hamas Minister of Transportation Osama Alisawi are still at large and wanted by the Italian police.
Three associations, officially supporting Palestinian civilians but allegedly serving as a front for funding Hamas, are also involved in the investigation (ABSPP, Golden Dome and The Palm). According to court papers, the nine individuals are accused of having financed approximately 7 million euros ($8 million) to associations owned, controlled, or linked to Hamas. While their official objective was to collect donations for humanitarian purposes for the Palestinian people, more than 71 percent was earmarked for the direct financing of Hamas or entities affiliated with the terror group, according to the investigators.
Moreover, the following day, 17 additional police searches were conducted in different Italian cities, leading to the acquisition of more hidden cash (over 1,500,000 euros), laptops, USB drives, and additional material belonging to the terrorist organization. It cannot be ruled out that the investigation will further expand, also based on the material found during the searches.
One aspect that is confirmed in the investigation is the central role of Turkey as a logistical and financial hub for Hamas’s network in Europe. To better understand this, we must take a step back to October 2024, when the US Department of Treasury’s OFAC sanctioned Hannoun (indicated as Hamas’s man in Italy and its money collector) and three other Hamas-linked individuals: Majed al-Zeer (who operated in Germany), Adel Doughman (in Austria), and Hamid al-Ahmar, a Turkey-based Yemeni citizen (three Istanbul-based companies linked to the latter were also sanctioned).
The Italian court papers indicate al-Zeer as the head of Hamas’s European arena. In May 2024, German authorities had already issued an arrest warrant for Majed al-Zeer who, in the meantime, relocated to Turkey. Interestingly, Mohammad Hannoun, who holds a Turkish passport, was about to do the same, but the Italian authorities intervened just in time to prevent him from fleeing to Istanbul, where he had purchased an apartment.
Between 2024 and 2025, the individuals involved in the investigation discussed on several occasions about bank transfers to Turkey and contracts to be signed there, such as the one in February 2024, involving the Golden Dome association for projects to be developed in the West Bank.
In March 2025, one of the involved in the investigation explained over the phone to an interlocutor known as “Jihad” that he had resolved the problems related to foreign transfers and used the “Turkish route” to send money to Palestine.
Furthermore, the Italian investigation confirmed and highlighted the role of Turkey as a “bridge” for money flow between Hannoun and the charities in Gaza and the West Bank. In the court papers, references are made to funds sent by Hannoun to Hamas minister Osama Alisawi (in Gaza) through the mediation of Mohammed Saleh Abdu “Abu Khaled”, who is based in Turkey. The two latter are wanted by the Italian authorities.
Among other well-known individuals involved with Hamas and based in Turkey, the investigation indicates Amr Alshawa, administrator of the investment fund Trend GYO; the company is blacklisted by Israel for financing Hamas and it was sanctioned in October 2023 by the United States. At the time, Trend GYO was represented by Musa Dudin, a West Bank-based Hamas official responsible for negotiations to free Hamas members in prison. Dudin has publicly represented and spoken on behalf of the terrorist organization. Following OFAC’s designation of Trend GYO as an SDGT, Dudin attempted to obfuscate Trend GYO’s continued affiliation with Hamas by transferring ownership to other parties.
Alshawa is designated by the United States as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Trend GYO and a board member of several companies in Hamas’ investment portfolio. In January 2024, the United States offered up to $10 million for information on five Hamas financiers, including Alshawa.
Shortly before the October 2023 sanctions, Alshawa visited Italy (January and August of the same year), precisely Milan, where he was welcomed by Mohammad Hannoun and one of his aides, Raed Daoud, who is also among the arrested.
Another Turkish association utilized by Hannoun’s network to transfer funds to the Palestinian-controlled territories is Hayat Yolu which, Israeli sources have shown, has direct links to Hamas and its al-Qassam Brigades. For instance, a source dated November 2022 indicates that a member of the Brigades named Mohammad Fathi Jabr was employed at the Istanbul offices of Hayat Yolu.
Of course, it’s no secret that Turkey is a Hamas stronghold; after all, the Islamist President Erdogan is a strong supporter of the Palestinian terrorist organization, he has described Hamas as “resistance fighters who are struggling to defend their land” and he hosts several Hamas officials on Turkish soil; among them, Zaher Jabarin, a member of the Hamas political bureau, who heads the organization’s finance department from Turkey.
Considering the clear and present danger represented by Hamas as a transnational terrorist organization, finally under investigation in Europe after the October 7, 2023, massacre, it is now time to seriously consider classifying Turkey as a terror-supporting state, regardless of its NATO membership which should also be reconsidered.
Giovanni Giacalone is a senior analyst in Islamist extremism and terrorism at the Italian Team for Security, Terroristic Issues and Managing Emergencies-Catholic University of Milan, at the Europe desk for the UK-based think tank Islamic Theology of Counter-Terrorism, and a researcher for Centro Studi Machiavelli. Since 2021 he is the coordinator for the “Latin America group” at the International Institute for the Study of Security-ITSS. In 2023 Giacalone published the book “The Tablighi Jamaat in Europe”.