Three Charged in France Over Gaza Aid Allegedly Diverted to Hamas
French prosecutors have charged three people linked to humanitarian associations with financing a terrorist entity, namely Hamas. The suspects dispute the allegations, and no one has been convicted.
The three are Faouzi Barika, president of the association Baraka in the Gironde region, his brother, and Amel Oualid, who heads the association Ensemble C Mieux in the Loire. France’s national anti terrorism prosecutor’s office confirmed the charges: financing a terrorist enterprise, breach of trust by an organised gang, and laundering linked to that breach of trust. The investigation was opened in April, according to French reporting.
What the US Treasury alleges
On October 2, the US Treasury sanctioned Barika, Oualid, their two associations and Saleem Abdallah Saleem al Zaq, a Gaza based battalion deputy in Hamas’s military wing. Treasury alleges that the three individuals collected more than $2 million for Hamas between 2020 and 2026, about $1.5 million of it after the October 7, 2023 massacre. It says the associations used humanitarian appeals and cryptocurrency, and that Barika and Oualid sent hundreds of thousands of dollars in crypto to al Zaq.
How the money allegedly moved
Treasury described the associations as purported charities that claimed to raise money for humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza. According to reporting that cites CoinDesk, Hamas’s military wing advised donors to avoid sending funds directly from one major exchange and to route money through other services before moving it to a TRON wallet. Analysts cited in the Jerusalem Post note that the US designations do not oblige French banks to freeze euro accounts and do not identify the network’s wallets. The same report says the Baraka website still asked for donations by PayPal days after the sanctions.
The suspects’ position
Barika and Oualid dispute the financing allegations, according to reporting that cites the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. A lawyer for one suspect said his client took part in fundraising for exclusively humanitarian purposes. Under French procedure, being charged means a judge has grounds to investigate; it is not a finding of guilt.
Who is held
French media report that Barika was placed in pretrial detention after a Paris judge’s ruling this week, while Oualid and Barika’s brother were released under judicial supervision. Five people were taken into custody in total, and the others are not named in the reports reviewed. Separately, US authorities announced arrests of three men in the United States over the same network.
What remains unanswered
For donors, the case turns on a narrow question: whether money given for Gaza relief reached Hamas. Investigators will have to prove that, and prove who knew it. The US figure of more than $2 million is Treasury’s allegation and has not been tested in a French court. Hamas is a listed terrorist organisation in the European Union, so financing it is a crime in France whatever the stated purpose of the money.
