A Palestinian man who entered the US illegally has been arrested for collaborating within the October 7, 2023, terrorist invasion of Israel, in keeping with a felony criticism launched on Thursday.
Federal prosecutors mentioned that Mahmoud Amin Ya’qub al-Muhtadi, 33, assembled a group of armed terrorists and crossed into Israel to affix the assault on the behest of Hamas, and later lied on his visa utility to enter the US.
Muhtadi was arrested earlier this month in Lafayette, Louisiana, the place he had been dwelling after getting into the US in September 2024. He’s being held in a jail within the space.
Muhtadi is a member of Gaza-based terror group the Democratic Entrance for the Liberation of Palestine and the Nationwide Resistance Brigades, in keeping with a criminal complaint filed by an FBI agent earlier this month. The criticism was unsealed on Thursday on the order of a federal choose.
The felony prices had been partially primarily based on data offered to the US by Israel.
On the morning of October 7, 2023, members of Hamas’s Nukhba unit led the invasion of Israel. Round an hour later, Hamas chief Muhammed Deif introduced the operation and invited “the plenty” to affix the assault, telling them to “kill [Israelis] wherever you overtake them.”
“Everybody who has a rifle, take it out, as now’s the time. And whoever doesn’t have a rifle, take out your machete, your axe, your hatchet,” Deif mentioned in an announcement, in keeping with the criticism.
Muhtadi discovered concerning the assault at 6:34 a.m. that morning on social media, minutes after the invasion started. At 8:12 a.m., shortly after Deif’s announcement, he instructed others he would be part of the assault.
Referring to Deif’s message, he coordinated a bunch of terrorists to affix him. By 9:33 a.m., his group had crossed the border, and round half-hour later, his mobile phone linked to a service tower close to Kibbutz Kfar Aza, indicating he was inside Israel.
Mourners at a ceremony marking the second anniversary of the Hamas assault on Israel, at Kibbutz Kfar Aza, October 7, 2025. (Luke Tress/Instances of Israel)
Kfar Aza was one of the communities hit hardest in the onslaught. In the course of the assault, some 250 terrorists swarmed the unsuspecting group of round 950 residents. The attackers took over the village in an hour, killing 62 residents and 18 safety personnel, and taking 19 civilians hostage.
The Democratic Entrance for the Liberation of Palestine is an offshoot of the In style Entrance for the Liberation of Palestine. The latter’s army wing, the Nationwide Resistance Brigades (NRB), has participated in dozens of terrorist assaults, together with the 1974 Ma’alot bloodbath that killed greater than 20 kids.
The group coordinates with Hamas and overtly participated within the October 2023 Hamas assault, posting on-line that its members had crossed into Israel. The day after, the group mentioned its fighters had attacked Kfar Aza, Be’eri and Kissufim.
Investigators discovered messages on Muhtadi’s telephone displaying himself holding weapons and sporting an NRB headband.
Muhtadi additionally despatched photos of a doc displaying that he had a weapon and ammunition that had been “property of the Nationwide Resistance Brigades,” and despatched photographs of himself with different armed NRB members. Within the messages, he referred to the group as his “younger males,” indicating that he was a senior determine within the group, prosecutors mentioned.
Mahmoud Amin Ya’qub al-Muhtadi, alleged October 7 participant and member of the DFLP terrorist group’s Nationwide Resistance Brigades, arrested in Louisiana, USA ???????? pic.twitter.com/4KmLSh4Aqd
— Aleph א (@no_itsmyturn) October 17, 2025
He additionally boasted about attacking a army outpost in Israel in 2021, saying in a message, “I swear by God, we burned them!”
Investigators recovered recorded telephone calls from October 7 during which Muhtadi referred to the assault, discussing Israelis celebrating the Simchat Torah vacation, which he known as the Jewish model of “Eid,” a Muslim vacation.
“They nonetheless haven’t woke up from the shock,” Muhtadi mentioned, referring to Israelis. “They’re nonetheless drunk, as a result of it’s the final day of their Eid.”
Within the calls, Muhtadi mentioned his information of the assault, his intention to affix, his efforts to collect different attackers and weapons, and crossing the border into Israel, in keeping with the criticism.
“There are many troopers who’ve been kidnapped. Sure, it’s happening down there. Sure, there may be kidnapping, and it’s a sport, which might be one,” he mentioned, including that he hoped the hostages would result in ceasefire negotiations.
He expressed hope that Syria and Lebanon would be part of the conflict and that it could grow to be “a 3rd world conflict.”
“That might be good,” he mentioned.
The doorway to the house of Sivan Elkabets and Naor Hasidim, in Kfar Aza, October 7, 2025. (Luke Tress/Instances of Israel)
He additionally instructed his followers to “carry the rifles,” ammunition magazines and a bulletproof vest and that he had a full automobile able to cross into Israel. He instructed one other group member to “prepare” and that “the borders are open.” In a later name, he mentioned he was inside Israel and instructed different attackers to show their telephones off.
The criticism didn’t say if Muhtadi had killed anybody.
In June 2024, Muhtadi submitted an immigrant visa utility to the US Division of State. On the shape, he mentioned he was born in Gaza in 1991, lived in Gaza till March 2024, and resided in Cairo, Egypt, the place he stuffed out the appliance.
Within the sworn assertion, he mentioned he didn’t have any weapons coaching, had by no means been in a militant group, had no ties to terrorist teams and had not participated in acts of violence.
Muhtadi met with a consular official on the US embassy in Cairo in August 2024, the place he swore to the accuracy of his visa utility and offered fingerprints and images of himself.
He arrived in Dallas, Texas, in September 2024, saying he deliberate to maneuver to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to work in automobile repairs or meals providers. He obtained an Oklahoma driver’s license.
He later posted a photograph on social media that confirmed himself sporting a keffiyeh and loading a handgun. Different photographs confirmed his kids posing with the weapon.
The Israeli authorities alerted the US to Muhtadi’s participation within the assault in Might 2025. The next month, FBI brokers discovered him in Louisiana working at a restaurant and started to watch him.
Federal prosecutors charged Muhtadi with supporting a terrorist group and visa fraud within the federal US Western District Court docket of Louisiana.
Louisiana jail information confirmed that Muhtadi was being held within the St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Workplace Jail outdoors Lafayette.
