Seven people were arrested in Italy on suspicion of raising some $8 million for the Gaza-ruling terrorist group of Hamas, police said on Saturday.
International arrest warrants were issued in connection with the case for two additional individuals located outside the country, AFP reported.
Mohammad Hannoun, president of the Palestinian Association in Italy, was among those arrested, local media reported, according to AFP.
The nine suspects are charged with financing “associations based in Gaza, the Palestinian territories, or Israel, owned, controlled or linked to Hamas,” under the guise of “humanitarian purposes for the Palestinian people,” the report continued.
More than 71% of the $8 million was directed to financing Hamas or entities affiliated with the Islamist dictatorship, the Italian police was cited as saying.
Some of the money went to “family members implicated in terrorist attacks,” the statement further read.
Italy’s ruling party, Brothers of Italy, spearheaded by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, said on X that the left should “humbly apologize” given the arrests.
The Italian government has denounced “for a long time” local associations with ties to terrorism, “but the left attacked us along with its media circus,” the party tweeted in Italian following the police’s statement.
Da tempo denunciavamo il doppio filo che legava certe associazioni al terrorismo, ma la sinistra ci attaccava insieme al suo circo mediatico.
— Fratelli d'Italia 🇮🇹 (@FratellidItalia) December 27, 2025
Adesso chiedano umilmente scusa, soprattutto agli italiani. pic.twitter.com/HeqiSQkRUr
Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi thanked the authorities involved in the “investigation of extraordinary importance.”
He went on to say on X: “Despite the due presumption of innocence that must always be recognized at this stage, the veil has been torn on behaviors and activities that, behind the screen of initiatives in favor of Palestinian populations, concealed support and participation in organizations with true and proper terrorist aims of an Islamist matrix.”
Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini took the opportunity to criticize protesters for “having brought Italy to a standstill, devastated cities, occupied stations and invaded tracks” over the past two years for the sake of “the wrong side,” referring to pro-Palestinians.
“Who knows if today anyone will apologize [for defending] those who—according to investigators—are among the financiers of terrorism,” he tweeted.
Ever since Hamas launched the deadliest single-day attack in Israel’s history against the communities along the Gaza border on Oct. 7, 2023, butchering some 1,200 people and kidnapping 251 more into the Strip, protesters across Europe have marched in support of the Palestinians.
On Dec. 6, 2025, Italian authorities intercepted and removed two groups of pro-Palestinian activists before they could reach the opening stages of the Milan 2026 Winter Olympics torch relay in Rome, police said.
One group included about 15 people, officials said, and both groups were prevented from coming into contact with the relay route.
