A Louisiana man has been charged with participating in the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Friday.
The complaint, reported by The New York Times, identified the suspect as Mahmoud Amin Ya’qub al-Muhtadi, who prosecutors said was an operative for a Gaza-based terror group that fought alongside Hamas. Authorities accused him of organizing armed fighters and crossing into Israel after learning of the attack, responding to a call for more participants.
Filed Oct. 6 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, the complaint was signed by FBI Supervisory Special Agent Alexandria M. Thoman O’Donnell. Al-Muhtadi was charged with providing, attempting to provide, or conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, as well as visa fraud and misuse of permits and other documents, the Times reported.
A 33-year-old man with the same name was being held Thursday at the St. Martin Parish Correctional Center near Lafayette, Louisiana, inmate records showed. Al-Muhtadi, who lived in the area, was expected to make his initial court appearance Friday morning before Magistrate Judge David J. Ayo.
According to the complaint, transcripts of al-Muhtadi’s phone calls on the morning of Oct. 7 captured him urging others to prepare for the attack. In one call, he told a man to “get ready” and said “the borders are open.” In another, he instructed someone to “bring the rifles.” Hamas and allied groups killed nearly 1,200 people in Israel that day and took about 250 hostages.
The complaint also cited evidence that al-Muhtadi’s phone, registered to Gaza-based carrier Jawwal, connected later that morning to an Israeli cell tower — suggesting he had crossed into Israel.
Prosecutors said al-Muhtadi was a member of the National Resistance Brigades, the armed wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which took part in the Oct. 7 assault. The complaint cited Israeli intelligence and social media photos linking him to the group.
The FBI agent said she was assigned to a Justice Department task force launched in March to prosecute individuals involved in the attack, continuing work begun under the Biden administration that led to charges against Hamas leaders last year.
According to the complaint, al-Muhtadi entered the United States on an immigrant visa in September 2024. A person using the name Mahmoud Almuhtadi signed a U.S. visa application that June, listing Gaza as his birthplace and Cairo as his residence. He indicated no history of paramilitary service or firearm expertise and said he planned to live in Tulsa, Oklahoma, working in car repairs or food services.
Customs and Border Protection records showed he entered the country through Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on Sept. 12, 2024. By May 2025, he was living in Tulsa and had posted photos online of himself and his children posing with a Glock pistol, the complaint said.
In June, FBI agents found him in Lafayette, where he appeared to be working at a restaurant, according to the complaint.