Gazan man accused of taking part in Oct. 7 attack on Israel arrested in Louisiana

A man accused of participating in the Hamas-led terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, has been arrested in Louisiana, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

Mahmoud Amin Ya’qub Al-Muhtadi, 33, a native of Gaza currently residing in Lafayette, was taken into custody on Tuesday for his alleged role in the 2023 attack that killed around 1,200 people, including dozens of Americans.

Attorney General Pamela Bondi said Al-Muhtadi had “been found and charged with participating in the atrocities of October 7, the single deadliest day for Jewish people since the Holocaust.”

Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said Al-Muhtadi “armed himself, recruited additional marauders, and then entered Israel,” where evidence places him near one of the hardest-hit communities, Kibbutz Kfar Aza.

Eisenberg said the suspect later entered the United States using a fraudulently obtained visa in an attempt to remain undetected.

According to court documents, Al-Muhtadi is an operative for the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine’s (DFLP) military wing, the National Resistance Brigades, which participated in the October 7 attack alongside Hamas.

Prosecutors say his phone connected to a cell tower near Kfar Aza, where Hamas and allied fighters killed many civilians, including at least four Americans.

Al-Muhtadi allegedly concealed his involvement with the DFLP, Hamas, and the October 7 attacks when applying for a U.S. visa, which he obtained on false pretenses before entering the country in September 2024.

The case is being investigated by the FBI’s New Orleans Field Office and the Justice Department’s Joint Task Force October 7, with assistance from Israeli authorities and several U.S. law enforcement agencies.