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Who is Mahmoud Amin Ya'qub Al-Muhtadi? Louisiana man accused of joining Hamas in 2023 Israel attack
Federal prosecutors have accused Mahmoud Amin Ya'qub Al-Muhtadi, a man living in Lafayette, of joining the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
Mahmoud Amin Ya'qub Al-Muhtadi, a man living in Lafayette, Louisiana, has been accused of joining the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Federal prosecutors have also accused him of then traveling to the US on a fraudulent visa, New York Times reported.
The complaint accused Al-Muhtadi of being an operative for a paramilitary group in Gaza that had fought along with Hamas. He was also accused of organizing other armed fighters in Gaza and crossing into Israel on Oct 7, after the first waves of Hamas militants.
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The attack that day claimed the lives of 1200 Israelis, some of who were American citizens, while militants took about 250 people hostage to Gaza. The unrest that followed, and saw heavy loss of life in Gaza, only reached a resolution recently with US President Donald Trump helping broker a peace deal.
Who is Mahmoud Amin Ya'qub Al-Muhtadi?
Mahmoud Amin Ya’qub al-Muhtadi has been accused of being a member of the National Resistance Brigades, which is the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. In the complaint, Israeli intelligence, along with photos on Al-Muhtadi's social media and email accounts indicated he was affiliated with the group.
Messages from Al-Muhtadi on October 7, showed him preparing for the attack. He told one person “bring the rifles” and said “If you have a full magazine, bring it to me,” to another, as per the complaint, which NYT accessed. He has, however, not been accused of killing anyone.
Al-Muhtadi reportedly made his way to the US last year on an immigrant visa, the complaint further noted. He reportedly entered through Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and prosecutors reportedly said he lied on his visa application to enter the country.
The complaint noted that a man named Mahmoud Almuhtadi, living in Cairo, signed a US visa application on June 26, 2024, where he indicated he'd been born in Gaza in 1991 and had lived there until March 2024. Further, the application reportedly indicated that he did not have any history of serving in a paramilitary unit or engaging in terrorist activities.
He was held on Thursday at the St. Martin Parish Correctional Center, as per NYT and ABC-affiliate KATC. He had reportedly been living in Lafayette and working in a restaurant as of September 2025, KATC reported.
Meanwhile, NYT, citing the complaint, reported that Al-Muhtadi resided in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as of May 2025. He also reportedly posted photographs of himself and his children with a Glock pistol. He was reportedly located in Lafayette by the FBI in June. Among the charges Al-Muhtadi is facing, are providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization and visa fraud.
