UK probes major Muslim charity after director charged with funneling aid to Hamas

The United Kingdom’s Charity Commission announced on Friday that it was probing one of the UK’s largest Muslim charity organizations for allegedly providing financial and material support to Hamas in the wake of the October 7, 2023, massacre.

The probe into the Al-Khair Foundation came after its director, Mohammad Yousef Hasna, was arrested in the UK last week on US charges alleging he conspired to funnel money and supplies to Hamas through his senior role in what prosecutors said was a sham global humanitarian organization.

Hasna, a 45-year-old Turkish national, was ordered held pending extradition to New York, where he will face a federal court.

Hasna worked closely with Hamas’s senior leadership to deliver supplies, food and funding to Hamas under the guise of humanitarian aid, said the US federal prosecutor assigned to the case.

The US Justice Department accused Hasna of using “his senior role at a purported global humanitarian organization to raise funds and provide financing and commodities to Hamas.”

The indictment alleged that he also “manipulated photographs and documents to conceal from the public and potential donors that Hamas was the actual beneficiary of his fundraising and to obfuscate the true nature of his purportedly humanitarian work.”

The U.S. Department of Justice announced today that Mohammad Yousef Hasna, 45, of Istanbul, was arrested in the United Kingdom and is awaiting extradition to New York. Prosecutors allege he used his position as the global director of a UK-registered charity to deliver cash and… pic.twitter.com/fGXWpNFnoc

— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) August 1, 2026

According to the indictment, AKF’s income ballooned from $41 million in 2023 to $81 million in 2024, before further growing to around $100 million in 2025.

Hasna was accused by the US of having close ties with Hamas leader Ghazi Hamad, with the two exchanging several messages regarding the transfer of millions of dollars of funds directly to the terror group.

Hasna allegedly arranged cash transfers to Hamad, with a ledger exchanged between the two showing nearly £4 million ($5.4 million) in incoming funds and £2.3 million ($3.1 million) in expenses, including more than £500,000 ($674,500) that the FBI concluded was “personally received” by Hamad.

The FBI also alleged that Hasna and Hamad coordinated the transport, storage and distribution of aid and other supplies to Hamas in Gaza while concealing the terror group’s role. In one exchange, Hamad allegedly asked Hasna to film aid parcels inside a storage facility without showing identifying signs or markings linking the location to Hamas, while days later Hasna allegedly discussed diverting 5,000 food parcels to Hamad.

Hasna even asked the senior terror leader for contacts with international organizations during a 2024 exchange: “I know that you have contact with the United Nations, the Red Cross, and details like that. Is it possible to share their numbers with me?”

Hasna was also accused of “sending truckloads of purported humanitarian aid into Gaza under the name of the Sham Charity, to be sent to warehouses controlled by Hamas’s sham charity network before onward distribution into Gaza for the benefit of Hamas.”

In a statement, the Al-Khair Foundation said it was cooperating with the British probe “with a view to answering questions posed, addressing concerns raised, and taking remedial action if needed.”

“We are a proudly British humanitarian organization, a registered charity with a distinguished record spanning more than two decades of delivering humanitarian assistance and alleviating poverty,” it added.

The IDF has previously said the Al-Khair Foundation transfers funds to terror groups in Gaza “under the guise of humanitarian activity” and that the organization has employed at least one senior Hamas official.