Justice Department Discloses Three French Arrests in Hamas Financing Probe

The U.S. Justice Department disclosed on October 2 that France's domestic intelligence service, DGSI, had arrested Faouzi Barika, Amel Oualid and Nordine Barika in a Hamas-financing investigation. The department described them as associates of Gaza-based Saleem Alzaq and alleged that a network diverted donations presented as humanitarian assistance to Hamas. It said Alzaq collected more than $1.7 million since January 2020, and credited French cooperation in an operation involving prosecutions in New York, Louisiana and Florida. The release did not specify when the French arrests occurred; the allegations remain unproven, and defendants are presumed innocent.