Louisiana man charged in Oct. 7 attack on Israel, visa fraud

Federal authorities arrested a Louisiana resident on Thursday, charging him with participation in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel and with visa fraud, the Justice Department and the FBI said. The criminal complaint unsealed this week identifies the suspect as Mahmoud Amin Yaqub AlMuhtadi, 33, who was taken into custody in Lafayette and is expected to make an initial federal court appearance Friday.

The affidavit alleges that AlMuhtadi, a Gaza native who became a U.S. legal permanent resident after entering the country in September 2024, armed himself, gathered others and crossed from Gaza into southern Israel on the morning of Oct. 7 with the intention of assisting the Hamas-led assault that killed more than 1,200 people and resulted in roughly 250 people being taken hostage. The complaint says his phone connected to a cell tower near Kibbutz Kfar Aza, a community where dozens were killed and about 19 people were abducted during the attack.

Federal prosecutors say AlMuhtadi was an operative of the National Resistance Brigades, the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and that his social media and email accounts show a yearslong affiliation...