On November 13, 2026, it was revealed that Mohammed Al-Fatah, the former bodyguard of assassinated Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, was granted British asylum and citizenship.
The news came to light after a British court convicted al-Fatah of unlawfully wounding a bailiff, possessing knives, and criminal damage.
Al-Fatah is far from the only individual with alleged or documented ties to Hamas who has made Britain home.
The Jerusalem Post investigated multiple individuals, their connections to Hamas, and their immigration status, revealing a history of alleged Hamas activity in Britain that stretches back decades.
Mohammed Al-Fatah
Mohammed al-Fatah, 40, also known as Mohammed Naim, is the son of senior Hamas official Bassem Naim.
Al-Fatah was convicted last Friday at Birmingham Crown Court in the UK of wounding an enforcement officer and causing criminal damage.
At the time of the attack, a British counterterrorism unit was already surveilling al-Fatah. He had previously been arrested and released on bail on suspicion of an offense related to supporting Hamas.
Al-Fatah is also wanted in Germany on suspicion of playing a central role in the foiled Hamas ploy to carry out terrorist attacks against Israelis and Jews in Europe around the second anniversary of the October 7 attack.
Born in Germany, al-Fatah was raised in the Gaza Strip. He arrived in the UK in 2014, was granted political asylum in 2015, and finally became a British citizen in 2020.
Al-Fatah was partially named in a separate indictment in Germany issued in September. Referred to in German court documents as “Mohammed A.,” he is said to have played a prominent role in the Hamas network and had connections to the organization’s leadership.
One of the most serious allegations is that al-Fatah had prerecorded a video claiming responsibility on behalf of Hamas for the planned attack that was eventually thwarted.
Despite this, the UK judge instructed jurors to consider al-Fatah a person of previous good character because he had no prior criminal convictions in Britain.
He is said to have been living in Birmingham with his wife and children.
Muhammad Qassem Sawalha
Another known Hamas member who lives in the UK is Muhammad Qassem Sawalha (also known as Abu Obada).
According to a 2019 Israeli government report, Sawalha, born in 1961 in Tubas, served as a senior Hamas military official in the West Bank in the late 1980s, around the time of Hamas’ founding.
Sawalha then fled the West Bank to Jordan using forged identity documents in October 1990, continuing on to Britain, where he has lived since.
Despite leaving the region, Sawalha continued to be active in Hamas.
An August 20, 2004 US Department of Justice federal indictment named Sawalha as a coconspirator in a case involving Hamas financing and terrorist operations.
According to the filing, Sawalha met senior Hamas figures Muhammad Salah and Mousa Abu Marzook in August 1992 to discuss reviving terrorist operations in the West Bank, identifying operatives who could participate in the effort.
In January 1993, Sawalha allegedly met Salah in London and instructed him to provide funds to Hamas members in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
According to an Israeli intelligence report, Sawalha continued to be active in Hamas for at least the next two decades, serving as a member of Hamas’s Political Bureau between 2013 and 2017 while in London.
During this time, he participated in two delegations of senior Hamas officials to Moscow (September 2017 and July 2019).
While in the UK, Sawalha founded the Muslim Association of Britain and later the British Muslim Initiative. He was also a key figure in planning the MV Mavi Marmara flotilla in 2010, and in 2013, Israel’s defense minister designated him as a Hamas member.
In 2013, the Sunday Times ran a front-page investigation revealing that Sawalha lived in north London, had obtained British citizenship, and had purchased a former council property in Colindale at a substantial discount.
According to the Sunday Times, Barnet Council gave the father of four a £112,300 discount on the £320,700 home, despite being informed in 2020 by the UK Lawyers for Israel campaign group about his ties to a proscribed terror organization.
Zaher Birawi
Just a few miles away from Sawalha’s London residence, another alleged Hamas operative can be found: Zaher Birawi.
Barnet resident Birawi has been active in Palestinian political and advocacy organizations in Britain, including the Palestine Forum in Britain and initiatives organizing flotillas to Gaza.
Israeli government publications identify him as a Hamas-linked activist based in Britain, for which he is designated.
In October 2023, Labour MP Christian Wakeford named Birawi in Parliament as an alleged Hamas operative living in north London.
Birawi was also officially sanctioned by the US in January 2026 due to his role in assisting and supporting a group with ties to Hamas.
Both Birawi and the organization he founded, now serving as its general secretary – the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad (PCPA) – are designated by the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
OFAC sanctioned the PCPA for being owned, directed by, or having acted on behalf of Hamas. Birawi himself was sanctioned for supporting the PCPA.
On November 19, 2021, Birawi told Hamas’s Al-Aqsa TV that “Palestine has the right to resist Zionist occupation” and “Hamas is the largest Palestinian political party that won the elections. Britain will soon be forced to apologize for its decision against Hamas.”
It is important to note that Birawi himself has rejected allegations that he is a Hamas operative, and has referred to parliamentary accusations as baseless.
Despite residing in London, the Post could not confirm whether Birawi holds British citizenship or was granted refugee status.
Mosab Abdulkarim al-Gassas
Another recent case is that of Mosab Abdulkarim al-Gassas, also known as Abu Wadee or Abu Wadei.
Abu Wadei entered the media spotlight in March 2025 when footage emerged of him arriving in Kent, UK, on a migrant boat. This followed several unsuccessful asylum applications in Greece, Germany, and Belgium.
He was born in Khan Yunis and has pictures and videos on social media showing him posing with AK-47s and throwing pipe bombs. He is believed to have been a member of Gaza’s tire-burning units.
Abu Wadei pleaded guilty to trying to enter the UK on a small boat without leave or valid entry clearance, and was imprisoned for nine-months.
However, in October 2026, it was reported that Abu Wadei was living in a taxpayer-funded asylum accommodation on Corby’s Lloyds estate with three other migrants. He is reportedly wearing an electronic tag.
According to British media outlets, the Home Office is seeking to deport him but has struggled to do so because of the government’s asylum policy which restricts returning individuals to active conflict zones.
Wadei was recorded telling the Northamptonshire Telegraph he no longer supported Hamas.
“That was back when I lived in Gaza under Hamas rule,” he said. “Everyone knows that Hamas is a terrorist organization that would kill us if we didn’t speak against the Jews while living there.”
The Post could not establish whether he was a formal Hamas member.
Majed Khalil Moussa al-Zeer
One highly documented case involves British-Jordanian citizen Majed Khalil Moussa al-Zeer, often referred to as “Hamas’s official representative in Germany.”
Al-Zeer was born on December 8, 1962, near Bethlehem. According to the Amit Terrorism and Intelligence Research Institute, al-Zeer is a British citizen who moved to Germany in 2014.
He previously headed the London-based Palestinian Return Centre – considered an important Hamas arm in Europe.
On October 7, 2024 (the same day as the Birawi designation), the US Treasury sanctioned al-Zeer, citing his involvement in the PCPA.
“The PCPA operates at Hamas’s behest,” it said. “Al-Zeer, who served as the chairman and president of the PCPA, as well as other senior positions, plays a central role in Hamas’s fundraising efforts in Europe and was the senior Hamas representative in Germany.”
Al-Zeer was also previously documented with former Hamas Political Bureau head Haniyeh and claimed that the October 7, 2023, attack and massacre had been in “self-defense.”
While the official US sanctions record documents a British passport issued in November 2022, it does not establish when or how citizenship was acquired by al-Zeer.
Palestine Forum in Britain's Ziad El Aloul and Adnan Hmidan
The Palestinian Forum in Britain (PFB) is a UK-based organization that has faced scrutiny regarding its ties to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, as discussed previously in relation to Birawi.
Two of its prominent members have been linked to Hamas.
The first is Ziad El Aloul, a former PFB chairman, whom Wakeford named alongside Sawalha, Birawi, and al-Zeer as a British national with Hamas links.
Adnan Hmidan has held senior positions in the PFB and has been associated with the UK-based Al-Arab media outlet.
A Jerusalem Post investigation published earlier this year identified him as the founder of the Red Ribbons campaign, which advocates for Palestinian security prisoners.
Britain’s Independent Press Standards Organization found sufficient evidence for The Telegraph to describe Hmidan as pro-Hamas.
In July 2026, Hmidan was among five people specifically named in a House of Lords question about potential financial sanctions against individuals residing in or operating from Britain who were allegedly linked to Hamas.
Essam Yusuf Mustafa, also known as Essam Mustafa
A more disputed case involves Essam Yusuf Mustafa, also known as Essam Mustafa, a former prominent figure in Interpal, a British charity that US authorities designated in 2003 over alleged Hamas financing.
In addition to serving as one of Interpal’s founding trustees, Mustafa was formerly the secretary-general of the Union of Good.
On November 12, 2008, the US Treasury Department designated the Union of Good as a terrorist financing organization, accusing it of channeling money to Hamas.
The statement specifically identified the Union of Good’s secretary-general, who was also vice chairman of the UK-based charity Interpal, as a member of Hamas’s executive committee under Khaled Mashaal as of mid-2007.
It did not name that official, but contemporary sources identified Mustafa as the person holding those positions.
Mustafa has denied ever serving on Hamas’s executive committee or holding any other position in the organization.
He is understood to live in Britain.
Azzam al-Tamimi
Another prominent Hamas supporter living openly in Britain is Palestinian-born academic Dr. Azzam al-Tamimi, who has previously acknowledged advising the terrorist organization and maintaining close ties with its leadership.
In a 2006 interview with the Post, al-Tamimi revealed that he had participated in workshops concerning revisions of Hamas’s founding charter and acknowledged his close relationship with senior Hamas leader Mashaal.
“I am someone who is closely associated with the movement. I don’t have an official capacity, but I help as much as I can within the limits of the law,” he told the Post at the time.
He also said the workshops had involved Hamas leaders and experts discussing proposed charter changes in Beirut and Damascus.
Al-Tamimi, who has been identified as a British national and founded the London-based Al-Hiwar television channel, has denied being a Hamas member.
In December 2008, the Israeli embassy called him Hamas’s de facto representative in London.
His activities have attracted scrutiny in Britain since at least 2003, when then-Labour MP Louise Ellman accused him in Parliament of maintaining connections to the organization, allegations he disputed.
In 2007, he published a book called Hamas: A History from Within. Much of the book is based on interviews with Hamas leaders or on participant observation among the movement’s “rank and file,” according to the publisher.
Al-Tamimi was also described in the press as “close enough to Hamas to have been able to choose such a title for his book confidently.”
What British law says
Britain originally proscribed only Hamas’s military wing in 2001. In November 2021, the government extended the prohibition to the whole organization, including its political wing.
However, membership in a terrorist organization and eligibility for refugee protection are not mutually exclusive under the law; Official UK asylum guidance states that membership in a terrorist group does not automatically establish exclusion from refugee status.
Interestingly, British politicians have repeatedly warned of alleged Hamas operatives in the country.
Labour MP Christian Wakeford raised the cases of Muhammad Sawalha and Zaher Birawi in the House of Commons in October 2023. Wakeford then raised the issue a month later, adding Majed al-Zeer and Ziad El Aloul, asking what the Home Office planned to do regarding alleged Hamas operatives living openly in Britain.
He in fact used his parliamentary privilege to name Birawi as one of four “senior Hamas operatives” active in Britain.
The issue of Hamas operatives in England, especially those with British passports, has also been posed to the House of Lords (October 2024) and the government (in December 2025 and January 2026).
More recently, in July 2026, Baroness Deech asked whether the Treasury had considered sanctions against five named people: Birawi, Sawalha, El Aloul, al-Zeer and Hmidan. The government replied that it would not disclose ongoing or potential sanctions investigations.
The concerns, therefore, are not new; Friday's Al-Fatah case has simply brought the topic back into focus, particularly how individuals with ties to Hamas have been able to establish lives in Britain, and in some cases obtain British citizenship.
The cases raise a more troubling question: How thoroughly does Britain investigate an applicant’s past before granting asylum or citizenship, and what happens when individuals with alleged terrorist ties obtain a British passport that allows them to travel more freely across Europe?