US federal attorneys have charged a LA resident of participating in the 7 October raid by Hamas on Israeli soil, as per recently revealed legal documents.
Mahmoud Amin Ya'qub al-Muhtadi, 33, reportedly armed him and joined a paramilitary unit that engaged alongside the organization in the 2023 incursion that killed over a thousand Israeli citizens, triggering 24 months of conflict that killed many additional individuals.
A year after the incident, he supposedly journeyed to the United States on a fake visa and became a long-term resident.
Mr al-Muhtadi was indicted with supplying, attempting to provide or plotting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and the deception and misuse of a travel document or additional papers.
Alleged Role with Armed Group
Mr al-Muhtadi was reportedly an member of the NRB, the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, according to the legal filing filed by the FBI.
He is charged of coordinating a "unit of armed fighters" to cross into Israeli territory upon hearing about the attack and asked one individual to "bring the firearms", legal documents show.
Mr al-Muhtadi dispatched messages asking others to provide a bulletproof vest for another man and rounds, authorities allege.
Hours after the 7 October attack started, his phone pinged a signal tower close to Kibbutz Kfar Aza, the location of a massacre, the records stated.
Legal Process and Response
The complaint said that the accused denied ever having been involved in terrorist activities on his American immigration form.
After coming to the United States, he lived in a handful of locations before settling in the Louisiana city, where he was employed in a nearby restaurant.
He was taken into custody on Thursday, the Justice Department said.
During a hearing in Louisiana on Friday, he was asked if he understood the allegations against him, an interpreter rendered his answer as "affirmative, but there are a lot of points stated in this document that are so incorrect, I'm innocent", according to reports.
The documents do not charge the defendant of particular offenses or killings. Federal attorneys have previously indicted senior individuals of the group with the fatalities of American nationals on October 7.
