Italian police have arrested nine people accused of raising around €7m (£6m) for Hamas over more than two years.

The money was ostensibly collected as humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians, a police statement said, but was instead sent to the militant group via a “complex fundraising system”.

Alongside the arrests, police say they have seized more than €8m (£7m) in assets as part of the investigation.

Police say the suspects are “specifically accused of carrying out financing operations believed to have contributed to terrorist activities”.

The arrests were made as part of a joint initiative between Italy’s counter-terror police and financial police.

The investigation began after the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack in southern Israel.

Police say they analysed “a series of reports of suspicious financial transactions” involving some of the suspects in the lead up to the attack.

Investigators uncovered a “complex” system of fundraising, which was headquartered in Genoa with branches in Milan, the statement adds.

“The suspects collected donations intended for the civilian population of Gaza, however, it emerged that over 71% of these funds were diverted to Hamas’s coffers to finance its military wing and support the families of suicide bombers or those detained for terrorism,” the police statement says.

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said the most well-known of the arrested suspects was Mohammad Hannoun, the president of the Palestinian Association in Italy.

Piantedosi thanked police for their work in a post on X, but also noted that “the presumption of innocence... must always be recognised at this stage”.

Mr Hannoun said that he is “neither closely nor remotely” related to Hamas but has always supported them.

“I have always declared with utmost transparency that I am a Palestinian citizen and publicly support the legitimate resistance of the Palestinian people,” he told reporters.

Source: BBC

- Agencies