Usama Ali is an alleged Hamas operative, chief and financier.
He’s additionally Canadian.
And so are others within the Palestinian terrorist group that killed 1,200 and took greater than 200 hostages on Oct. 7, 2023, International Information has discovered.
About 450 folks with assorted roles in Hamas have ties to Canada, based on a supply accustomed to the intelligence on the matter.
The supply, who spoke on the situation of not being recognized, mentioned the checklist was comprised of everlasting residents, in addition to these with household or associates in Canada.
But it surely additionally included residents like Ali, an alleged member of the Hamas government crew who runs the phobia group’s monetary workplace.
The determine dates to the time of the Hamas attack on Israel that introduced the Center East to the brink of regional struggle and should now not be so excessive, the supply added.
The Israeli offensive in Gaza has killed tens of hundreds, and airstrikes have focused the Hamas management in Lebanon, Iran and Qatar.
As Gaza’s de facto authorities, Hamas managed a broad array of establishments for nearly twenty years, and plenty of residents may have subsequently had dealings with the group out of necessity.
However the quantity mentioned to have been lively within the group in varied capacities, and related to Canada, is important and features a high chief.
The Canadian Safety Intelligence Service confirmed it was investigating Canadians in Center East terror teams, however declined to elaborate.
Hamas is a listed terrorist entity in Canada, making it unlawful to take part in or contribute to “any exercise” of the group, which Public Safety Canada calls a “radical Islamist-nationalist terrorist group.”
“The federal government of Canada should act urgently to confront the menace posed by Hamas-linked people, each to forestall attacks on Canadian soil and to make sure Canada just isn’t exploited to facilitate terrorism overseas,” mentioned Noah Shack, CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.
“Participation in a banned terrorist group should carry actual penalties. Canadians should be shielded from terrorist threats.”
A number one skilled on Hamas mentioned the 450 quantity was believable and that different western international locations additionally accounted for vital numbers.
“It doesn’t shock me,” mentioned Matthew Levitt, a senior fellow on the Washington Institute for Close to East Coverage. “It will embody folks at all types of ranges.”
They’d vary from full Hamas members to those that served in authorities in some capability when it was led by the phobia group, Levitt mentioned.
Holding overseas citizenship affords benefits for teams like Hamas, akin to simpler motion throughout borders and consular safety, he mentioned.
“Having a overseas passport, particularly a western passport, is a ticket to journey,” mentioned Levitt, creator of the guide Hamas: Politics, Charity and Terrorism within the Service of Jihad.
Hamas fighters on the web site of the handover of the our bodies of 4 Israeli hostages in Khan Yunis, Gaza, Feb. 20, 2025. Photograph by Saeed Jaras/Center East Photographs/ABACAPRESS.COM.
Probably the most senior Canadian in Hamas is a 63-year-old with a trim gray beard who additionally holds Lebanese citizenship and goes by the names Usama Ali, Radwan and Rizwan, amongst others.
U.S. sanctions levied in opposition to him in 2022 checklist three Canadian passports he has used. Whereas his present whereabouts are unknown, the department he allegedly runs relies in Turkey.
Particulars of Ali’s life in Canada are unclear, however the U.S. Treasury Division has alleged that in 2017, he was appointed head of the Hamas Funding Workplace.
Initially in Saudi Arabia, the funding workplace relocated to Turkey and collected an estimated US$500 million in property, together with development and actual property corporations.
The companies spanned Africa and the Center East and have been used to cover cash, generate income and bankroll Hamas, based on the Treasury Division assertion.
“It’s a strategic long-term funding,” mentioned Levitt, a former U.S. Treasury official. “You’re residing off the earnings that the businesses are producing.”
On paper, Ali had no position within the corporations however “was concerned of their enterprise actions,” and co-ordinated “monetary transfers to Hamas,” the assertion alleged.
Nonetheless, Ali’s deputy, Hisham Younis Yahia Qafisheh, a Jordanian, held “key roles” within the Hamas-controlled companies, the assertion added.
He was deputy chair of Development GYO, a Turkish improvement firm, which has denied supporting Hamas. He was additionally chair and director of improvement corporations in Sudan, based on the allegations.
The Hamas funding workplace covertly held further property in corporations in Algeria and the United Arab Emirates, the treasury assertion mentioned.
A good portion of firm funds went to the Hamas army wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, which led the Oct. 7 assault, it added.
In 2019, Ali grew to become a member of the Shura Council, a consultative physique that elects Hamas executives and shapes the phobia group’s methods and insurance policies.
He additionally served on the Government Committee, the principle Hamas decision-making physique, which was led by political chief Ismail Haniyeh, based on the U.S. and Israel.
Ali “maintained direct contact with senior Hamas leaders,” together with Haniyeh, deputy chief Salih al-Aruri and monetary official Zahar Jabarin, Israeli authorities alleged.
Following the October 2023 assault, the Treasury Division imposed additional sanctions on the Hamas funding wing and an inventory of monetary facilitators.
“The businesses in Hamas’s portfolio have operated beneath the guise of authentic companies and their representatives have tried to hide Hamas’s management over their property,” the announcement mentioned.
“This funding community is directed by the very best ranges of Hamas management and has allowed Hamas senior officers to stay in luxurious whereas strange Palestinians in Gaza battle in harsh residing and financial situations.”
Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran in July 2024, whereas al-Aruri was killed in Beirut. There was no public discover that Ali has died, and the Israeli protection ministry declined to touch upon his standing.
However not all those that have been related to Hamas are as high-ranking, nor do they even stay within the Center East.
One is allegedly from Winnipeg.
Israeli airstrike in Gaza Metropolis, Might 30, 2025. (AP Photograph/Jehad Alshrafi).
On Might 22, 2025, Israeli forces struck a enterprise in Gaza Metropolis accused of storing and transferring thousands and thousands of {dollars} for Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The Dubai Money Exchange had been a goal of Israeli counter-terrorism officers since 2022, when it was sanctioned over a cryptocurrency scheme that moved cash for Hamas.
The corporate was unrelated to town of Dubai. Quite, it was positioned in Gaza and run by Khader Dan, “a distinguished cash exchanger within the service of Hamas,” the Israeli authorities alleged in its sanctions itemizing.
Dan’s operation was a “vital a part of Hamas’ financial infrastructure,” based on an announcement by Israel’s Nationwide Bureau for Counter Terror Financing.
As a part of their crackdown on Hamas financing, Israeli authorities seized about 600 digital “wallets” they alleged have been related to the Dubai alternate.
One in all them was traced to Canada. It allegedly belonged to Omar Alkassab, a Syrian who had arrived in Winnipeg as a refugee in 2016 and labored as a home painter.
The Israeli paperwork on the seizure of Alkassab’s crypto account lists a Manitoba cellphone quantity and an e mail tackle related to a Winnipeg residence.
When a International Information reporter visited the bungalow, the one who answered the door mentioned he didn’t know Alkassab. Neither Alkassab nor his lawyer responded to emails.
In keeping with his immigration information, Alkassab is from the Syrian metropolis of Al-Bab and labored in close by Aleppo as a supply driver for Coca Cola.
A LinkedIn account that has now been deleted mentioned that in Syria he “rescued folks buried beneath rubble from airstrikes,” and was challenge supervisor for a humanitarian group referred to as Omar’s Serving to Fingers.
As Syria spiralled into civil struggle and fell to ISIS, Alkassab moved together with his mother and father and siblings to Ankara, Turkey, after which to Canada.
After three years in Winnipeg, he utilized for Canadian citizenship in 2019 and handed the take a look at in 2021, however he’s nonetheless awaiting a call.
The small print of how his Gaza crypto account was used will not be publicly out there, nor are explanations for why a Manitoba resident would want a crypto pockets within the Palestinian territory.
An skilled mentioned the seized wallets may belong to “money mules” who use their cryptocurrency accounts to transform digital forex into money in portions beneath the boundaries flagged for cash laundering.
“It’s a method folks attempt to cowl their tracks,” mentioned Andreas Park, a College of Toronto at Mississauga finance professor.
Levitt mentioned donors may have had different causes for eager to ship cryptocurrency by way of a Gaza alternate, together with for altruistic, humanitarian functions.
“Is it doable that you’ve a Syrian making an attempt to develop into a Canadian who desires to present cash to needy folks in Gaza and that’s why he has it? Sure,” he mentioned.
“Why is it going by way of this specific Hamas-affiliated monetary establishment? Is there one other method to do it? Can anyone open up accounts there?”
“These are issues authorities are going to want to analyze.”
International Information reporter at home the place Omar Alkassab lived after coming to Canada from Syria. He’s beneath investigation over a Hamas cryptocurrency scheme.
The Canadian authorities launch an investigation into Alkassab in Might 2022, a month after the Israelis seized his crypto pockets, inner authorities paperwork present.
His citizenship utility was suspended are 4 federal companies are trying into his background, based on the information launched to International Information by the Federal Court docket.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has categorized it as a nationwide safety matter, and introduced within the RCMP, Canadian Safety Intelligence Service and Canada Border Providers Company, the file signifies.
The CSIS Safety Screening Department despatched its evaluation report on Alkassab to immigration officers on Jan. 16, 2025. It was closely redacted previous to being publicly launched however flagged his Gaza crypto pockets.
“In keeping with publicly out there data on the web site of the Nationwide Bureau for Counter Terror Financing of the Israeli authorities, Alkassab is the proprietor of a Binance cryptocurrency pockets believed to be the property of Dubai Firm for Trade within the Gaza Strip,” CSIS wrote in its report.
“The NBCTF has designated Dubai Firm for Trade as a terrorist group.”
Document of Investigation report on Omar Alkassab.
Federal Court docket
In the meantime, Alkassab has launched a courtroom case in opposition to the federal government for delaying his citizenship, claiming he was mystified as to why it had been held up.
He has no legal report, he mentioned, and has not served in any army or “organizations.” He was unaware of any investigations in opposition to him, he added.
In July, attorneys on the federal Justice Division launched one other case, this one asking the courtroom to permit the federal government to withhold delicate proof about Alkassab.
Divulging it could be “injurious to nationwide safety,” the federal government attorneys argued of their Federal Court docket utility.
Alkassab, 25, wrote in his courtroom assertion that he has been left to attend as his household and mates have been sworn in as Canadians, which has “affected my confidence, vanity, and general outlook on the long run.”
“The uncertainty and instability attributable to my lack of citizenship has taken an awesome toll on each my psychological and emotional well-being.”
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
