Federal prosecutors have charged a Louisiana resident with falsifying information on a U.S. visa application and taking part in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led terrorist attack in Israel, according to court filings and statements from the FBI.
The suspect, Mahmoud Amin Ya’qub Al-Muhtadi, 33, is accused of serving as an operative for the National Resistance Brigades (NRB), the paramilitary wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP).
Prosecutors allege the group collaborated with Hamas to carry out the Oct. 7 assault that killed more than 1,200 people, including Americans and resulted in roughly 250 hostages being taken into Gaza.
The DFLP, founded in 1969, is a Marxist-Leninist organization long designated as a terrorist group by Israel. Its military wing, the NRB, has claimed responsibility for rocket attacks and armed incursions targeting Israeli towns near the Gaza border.
Analysts say the DFLP maintains coordination with Hamas during major offensives and receives backing from Iran and other regional actors.
U.S. counterterrorism officials have warned that the DFLP’s cross-border operations often blur lines with Hamas, making identification of individual militants difficult.
An affidavit signed by FBI Supervisory Special Agent Alexandria M. Thoman O’Donnell details evidence tying Al-Muhtadi to the Oct. 7 massacre.
The filing alleges that on the morning of the attack, Al-Muhtadi “armed himself, gathered others and crossed into Israel with the intention of assisting Hamas’s terrorist operation.”
Investigators said his cellphone later connected to a tower near Kibbutz Kfar Aza, one of the sites where dozens of civilians were murdered.
According to The Post Millennial, court documents also accuse Al-Muhtadi of falsifying his U.S. immigrant visa application to conceal his membership in the DFLP’s military wing.
He allegedly submitted the form under the name “Mahmoud Almuhtadi” while living in Cairo, Egypt, in June 2024, denying any affiliation with paramilitary groups or involvement in terrorism.
Authorities contend that those claims were false.
The Daily Caller reports that the approved visa allowed him to enter the United States through Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on September 12, 2024.
Once inside the country, he relocated from Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Lafayette, Louisiana, where he reportedly found work in the automotive and food service sectors.
FBI agents said they later discovered encrypted messages and social media exchanges linking Al-Muhtadi to other militants abroad.
Several of the communications allegedly included photographs of weapons and military drills.
“Based on my training and experience, I believe these messages indicate that Al-Muhtadi was sufficiently senior in the NRB to have been tasked with training younger militants,” the affidavit stated.
Prosecutors have charged him with providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, fraud and misuse of visas and permits.
He is set to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge David J. Ayo in the Western District of Louisiana.
The Justice Department launched a task force earlier this year to identify and prosecute individuals with suspected ties to Hamas or affiliated groups, reflecting a growing focus on preventing foreign militants from entering the U.S. through falsified visa applications
