Usama Ali is an alleged Hamas operative, chief and financier.
He’s additionally Canadian.
And so are others within the Palestinian terrorist group that killed 1,200 and took greater than 200 hostages on Oct. 7, 2023, International Information has realized.
About 450 folks with assorted roles in Hamas have ties to Canada, in accordance with a supply aware of the intelligence on the matter.
The supply, who spoke on the situation of not being recognized, stated the checklist was comprised of everlasting residents, in addition to these with household or associates in Canada.
But it surely additionally included residents like Ali, an alleged member of the Hamas government staff who runs the fear group’s monetary workplace.
The determine dates to the time of the Hamas attack on Israel that introduced the Center East to the brink of regional battle and should not be so excessive, the supply added.
The Israeli offensive in Gaza has killed tens of 1000’s, and airstrikes have focused the Hamas management in Lebanon, Iran and Qatar.
As Gaza’s de facto authorities, Hamas managed a broad array of establishments for nearly twenty years, and lots of residents may have due to this fact had dealings with the group out of necessity.
However the quantity stated to have been lively within the group in varied capacities, and related to Canada, is critical and features a prime chief.
The Canadian Safety Intelligence Service confirmed it was investigating Canadians in Center East terror teams, however declined to elaborate.
Hamas is a listed terrorist entity in Canada, making it unlawful to take part in or contribute to “any exercise” of the group, which Public Safety Canada calls a “radical Islamist-nationalist terrorist group.”
“The federal government of Canada should act urgently to confront the menace posed by Hamas-linked people, each to stop attacks on Canadian soil and to make sure Canada shouldn’t be exploited to facilitate terrorism overseas,” stated Noah Shack, CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.
“Participation in a banned terrorist group should deliver actual penalties. Canadians need to be protected against terrorist threats.”
A number one professional on Hamas stated the 450 quantity was believable and that different western international locations additionally accounted for important numbers.
“It doesn’t shock me,” stated Matthew Levitt, a senior fellow on the Washington Institute for Close to East Coverage. “This may embrace folks at every kind of ranges.”
They might vary from full Hamas members to those that served in authorities in some capability when it was led by the fear group, Levitt stated.
Holding overseas citizenship provides benefits for teams like Hamas, corresponding to simpler motion throughout borders and consular safety, he stated.
“Having a overseas passport, particularly a western passport, is a ticket to journey,” stated Levitt, writer of the guide Hamas: Politics, Charity and Terrorism within the Service of Jihad.
Hamas fighters on the website of the handover of the our bodies of 4 Israeli hostages in Khan Yunis, Gaza, Feb. 20, 2025. Photograph by Saeed Jaras/Center East Photographs/ABACAPRESS.COM.
Essentially the most senior Canadian in Hamas is a 63-year-old with a trim gray beard who additionally holds Lebanese citizenship and goes by the names Usama Ali, Radwan and Rizwan, amongst others.
U.S. sanctions levied in opposition to him in 2022 checklist three Canadian passports he has used. Whereas his present whereabouts are unknown, the department he allegedly runs is predicated in Turkey.
Particulars of Ali’s life in Canada are unclear, however the U.S. Treasury Division has alleged that in 2017, he was appointed head of the Hamas Funding Workplace.
Initially in Saudi Arabia, the funding workplace relocated to Turkey and gathered an estimated US$500 million in belongings, together with development and actual property corporations.
The companies spanned Africa and the Center East and had been used to cover cash, generate income and bankroll Hamas, in accordance with the Treasury Division assertion.
“It’s a strategic long-term funding,” stated Levitt, a former U.S. Treasury official. “You might be residing off the earnings that the businesses are producing.”
On paper, Ali had no function within the corporations however “was concerned of their enterprise actions,” and co-ordinated “monetary transfers to Hamas,” the assertion alleged.
Nevertheless, Ali’s deputy, Hisham Younis Yahia Qafisheh, a Jordanian, held “key roles” within the Hamas-controlled companies, the assertion added.
He was deputy chair of Pattern GYO, a Turkish improvement firm, which has denied supporting Hamas. He was additionally chair and director of improvement corporations in Sudan, in accordance with the allegations.
The Hamas funding workplace covertly held further belongings in corporations in Algeria and the United Arab Emirates, the treasury assertion stated.
A good portion of firm funds went to the Hamas navy wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, which led the Oct. 7 assault, it added.
In 2019, Ali grew to become a member of the Shura Council, a consultative physique that elects Hamas executives and shapes the fear group’s methods and insurance policies.
He additionally served on the Govt Committee, the primary Hamas decision-making physique, which was led by political chief Ismail Haniyeh, in accordance with the U.S. and Israel.
Ali “maintained direct contact with senior Hamas leaders,” together with Haniyeh, deputy chief Salih al-Aruri and monetary official Zahar Jabarin, Israeli authorities alleged.
Following the October 2023 assault, the Treasury Division imposed additional sanctions on the Hamas funding wing and an inventory of monetary facilitators.
“The businesses in Hamas’s portfolio have operated beneath the guise of reputable companies and their representatives have tried to hide Hamas’s management over their belongings,” the announcement stated.
“This funding community is directed by the best ranges of Hamas management and has allowed Hamas senior officers to dwell in luxurious whereas abnormal Palestinians in Gaza wrestle in harsh residing and financial situations.”
Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran in July 2024, whereas al-Aruri was killed in Beirut. There was no public discover that Ali has died, and the Israeli protection ministry declined to touch upon his standing.
However not all those that have been related to Hamas are as high-ranking, nor do they even dwell within the Center East.
One is allegedly from Winnipeg.
Israeli airstrike in Gaza Metropolis, Might 30, 2025. (AP Photograph/Jehad Alshrafi).
On Might 22, 2025, Israeli forces struck a enterprise in Gaza Metropolis accused of storing and transferring hundreds of thousands of {dollars} for Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The Dubai Money Exchange had been a goal of Israeli counter-terrorism officers since 2022, when it was sanctioned over a cryptocurrency scheme that moved cash for Hamas.
The corporate was unrelated to the town of Dubai. Somewhat, it was positioned in Gaza and run by Khader Dan, “a distinguished cash exchanger within the service of Hamas,” the Israeli authorities alleged in its sanctions itemizing.
Dan’s operation was a “important a part of Hamas’ financial infrastructure,” in accordance with an announcement by Israel’s Nationwide Bureau for Counter Terror Financing.
As a part of their crackdown on Hamas financing, Israeli authorities seized about 600 digital “wallets” they alleged had been related to the Dubai alternate.
Considered one of them was traced to Canada. It allegedly belonged to Omar Alkassab, a Syrian who had arrived in Winnipeg as a refugee in 2016 and labored as a home painter.
The Israeli paperwork on the seizure of Alkassab’s crypto account lists a Manitoba telephone quantity and an e-mail deal with related to a Winnipeg residence.
When a International Information reporter visited the bungalow, the one who answered the door stated he didn’t know Alkassab. Neither Alkassab nor his lawyer responded to emails.
In response to his immigration information, Alkassab is from the Syrian metropolis of Al-Bab and labored in close by Aleppo as a supply driver for Coca Cola.
A LinkedIn account that has now been deleted stated that in Syria he “rescued folks buried beneath rubble from airstrikes,” and was venture supervisor for a humanitarian group referred to as Omar’s Serving to Palms.
As Syria spiralled into civil battle and fell to ISIS, Alkassab moved together with his dad and mom and siblings to Ankara, Turkey, after which to Canada.
After three years in Winnipeg, he utilized for Canadian citizenship in 2019 and handed the take a look at in 2021, however he’s nonetheless awaiting a call.
The small print of how his Gaza crypto account was used will not be publicly obtainable, nor are explanations for why a Manitoba resident would want a crypto pockets within the Palestinian territory.
An professional stated the seized wallets may belong to “money mules” who use their cryptocurrency accounts to transform digital forex into money in portions under the bounds flagged for cash laundering.
“It’s a technique folks attempt to cowl their tracks,” stated Andreas Park, a College of Toronto at Mississauga finance professor.
Levitt stated donors may have had different causes for eager to ship cryptocurrency by means of a Gaza alternate, together with for altruistic, humanitarian functions.
“Is it attainable that you’ve got a Syrian attempting to change into a Canadian who desires to offer cash to needy folks in Gaza and that’s why he has it? Sure,” he stated.
“Why is it going by means of this specific Hamas-affiliated monetary establishment? Is there one other technique to do it? Can anyone open up accounts there?”
“These are issues authorities are going to wish to analyze.”
International Information reporter at home the place Omar Alkassab lived after coming to Canada from Syria. He’s beneath investigation over a Hamas cryptocurrency scheme.
The Canadian authorities launch an investigation into Alkassab in Might 2022, a month after the Israelis seized his crypto pockets, inside authorities paperwork present.
His citizenship utility was suspended are 4 federal businesses are trying into his background, in accordance with the information launched to International Information by the Federal Court docket.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has categorized it as a nationwide safety matter, and introduced within the RCMP, Canadian Safety Intelligence Service and Canada Border Companies Company, the file signifies.
The CSIS Safety Screening Department despatched its evaluation report on Alkassab to immigration officers on Jan. 16, 2025. It was closely redacted previous to being publicly launched however flagged his Gaza crypto pockets.
“In response to publicly obtainable data on the web site of the Nationwide Bureau for Counter Terror Financing of the Israeli authorities, Alkassab is the proprietor of a Binance cryptocurrency pockets believed to be the property of Dubai Firm for Alternate within the Gaza Strip,” CSIS wrote in its report.
“The NBCTF has designated Dubai Firm for Alternate as a terrorist group.”
Document of Investigation report on Omar Alkassab.
Federal Court docket
In the meantime, Alkassab has launched a court docket case in opposition to the federal government for delaying his citizenship, claiming he was mystified as to why it had been held up.
He has no felony file, he stated, and has not served in any navy or “organizations.” He was unaware of any investigations in opposition to him, he added.
In July, attorneys on the federal Justice Division launched one other case, this one asking the court docket to permit the federal government to withhold delicate proof about Alkassab.
Divulging it will be “injurious to nationwide safety,” the federal government attorneys argued of their Federal Court docket utility.
Alkassab, 25, wrote in his court docket assertion that he has been left to attend as his household and mates have been sworn in as Canadians, which has “affected my confidence, vanity, and total outlook on the longer term.”
“The uncertainty and instability brought on by my lack of citizenship has taken an excellent toll on each my psychological and emotional well-being.”
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
