Israeli man charged over ties with Hamas after meeting deputy chief al-Arouri last year

The Shin Bet says a Bedouin man from the southern town of Hura has been charged for his alleged ties to Hamas, including meeting the terror group’s deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri in Turkey last year

Osama Alokbi and his wife Samah were detained by police in January, the security agency says.

The Shin Bet says evidence found at Alokbi’s home revealed his affiliation with Hamas, as well as the fact that he transferred tens of thousands of shekels to the terror group in Gaza over a number of years.

It says that the investigation also revealed that Alokbi transferred donation funds for mosques in the Negev to Hamas.

Alokbi maintained contact with senior Hamas officials abroad and met with them several times in Turkey, the Shin Bet says, charging that he brought his wife with him as a cover story of a couple’s trip.

The agency says Alokbi would raise funds in his meetings with Hamas officials for his activities in the Negev.

According to the Shin Bet, during his last trip to Turkey in June 2023, Alokbi participated in a “small forum” of Hamas officials, including al-Arouri, who was killed in an alleged Israeli strike in Beirut in January.

Alokbi, who previously was a member of the outlawed Islamic Movement’s northern branch, was known to authorities as “someone who identifies with an extreme ideology against the State of Israel and its institutions and is even involved in delivering sermons in mosques and postings on social networks, while encouraging participation in violent activity at the Al-Aqsa Mosque,” the Shin Bet says.

Alokbi has been charged with “contact with a foreign agent” and use of property for terror purposes.