Federal prosecutors arrested a Lafayette man who they say participated in the October 2023 attacks on Israel and later traveled to the U.S. on an illegal visa, according to newly unsealed documents obtained by the New York Times.

Mahmoud Amin Ya’qub al-Muhtadi, is accused of organizing other armed fighters in the Hamas-led attacks that killed nearly 1,200 Israelis and sparked a two-year-long war in Gaza. He faces charges of supporting a terrorist organization and visa fraud.

Prosecutors alleged in the criminal complaint that al-Muhtadi, a member of another Gaza-based paramilitary group, heard about the Hamas invasion, joined in and gathered others to assist in the attack. They say he then provided false information on his visa application relating to his involvement with a paramilitary

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