Prosecutors said cellphone location data showed Mahmoud Amin Yaqub al-Muftadi, 33, of Lafayette, Louisiana, was at the scene of a devastating attack on a kibbutz near Gaza.
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A Louisiana man described by prosecutors as a “monster” was indicted on Oct. 17 for participating in a 2023 Hamas raid that sparked a deadly conflict with Israel.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced that Mahmoud Amin Yaqub Al Muftadi, 33, was arrested in Lafayette, Louisiana. According to court documents, the Gaza native belonged to a Palestinian military organization. On the day of the attack by Hamas, cell phone location data showed he was at the site of a kibbutz just outside the Gaza Strip, where dozens of people were killed and 19 captured.
“After hiding in the United States, this monster was discovered and charged with participating in the atrocities of October 7, the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement announcing the arrest. “While nothing can fully heal the scars left by Hamas’s brutal attack, the Department’s Joint Task Force on October 7th is dedicated to finding and prosecuting those responsible for that horrific day, which included the murder of dozens of American citizens.”
According to the Israeli government, al-Muftadi was arrested on October 16, more than two years after the attack that killed 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 others. Gaza responded by launching a devastating campaign that flattened much of the population center and killed more than 66,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
According to prosecutors, the suspected terrorist fighter entered the United States on September 12, 2024, by providing false information on his visa application.
The last 20 living hostages remaining in Gaza were returned to Israel on October 13 in exchange for approximately 2,000 Palestinian detainees and prisoners of war. Hamas returned the bodies of several hostages who died on October 14.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, al-Muftadi was a fighter in the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Prosecutors said he also joined the Gaza-based militia National Resistance Brigades on October 7.
Prosecutors say the suspect took part in the attack on Kibbutz Kfar Azha, a small community just two miles from the Gaza border.
John A. Eisenberg, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, said, “Once al-Muftadi learned of the unfolding brutal attacks against civilians in multiple countries, including Israel and the United States, he immediately sprang into action. He armed himself, recruited more looters, and then entered Israel, where there is evidence that he was close to one of the hardest-hit Israeli communities.” “Al-Muftadi then fraudulently obtained a visa to enter the United States, hoping to remain undetected. This arrest marks the first public step toward bringing to justice those responsible for harming Americans that day.”
Al-Muftadi was discovered on Oct. 7 by the Joint Task Force, a group Bondi founded to track those involved in the Oct. 7 attack, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Al-Muftadi’s lawyer could not be reached. The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI did not respond to further questions about the case.
