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Brazil Deports Hamas Operative, Family After Being Alerted by US
Palestinian fighters from the armed wing of Hamas take part in a military parade to mark the anniversary of the 2014 war with Israel, near the border in the central Gaza Strip, July 19, 2023. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
Brazil has deported a Palestinian man and his family after Brazilian federal police were alerted by the United States that a “Hamas operative” was traveling to the South American country, Brazilian authorities said on Monday.
Muslim Abuumar along with his pregnant wife, son, and mother-in-law, were detained on Friday entering the country at Sao Paulo’s Guarulhos airport and put on a Qatar Airways flight back to Doha two days later, police sources told Reuters.
“The request came from the US Department of State,” a senior federal police officer said. “It was proven before a judge that [Abuumar] was deeply involved with Hamas,” he said.
A federal judge in Sao Paulo stopped the deportation on Saturday to request information from the police, which when provided led her to approve deporting Abuumar and his family.
Judge Milenna da Cunha, in her decision seen by Reuters, said Brazilian federal police received an alert via the US embassy that “a Hamas operative, Muslim Abuumar” would be arriving in Brazil from Kuala Lumpur.
According to an injunction filed by Abuumar’s lawyer, Bruno Henrique de Moura, the Palestinian family was detained by police on entry at Guarulhos airport without a warrant. It said they were coming to visit his brother who lives in Brazil.
Brazilian police sources, however, said Abuumar was not coming for a visit but to stay in Brazil and become a spokesman for Hamas. Once source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the large amount of luggage he brought with his family showed he was planning to stay longer.
Abuumar, 37, is executive director of the Asia Middle East Center, and his wife is Malaysian and his children Malaysian-born, the injunction filed by his lawyer said.
A police source said Abuumar had first flown to Brazil last year, arriving on Jan. 1, the day leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was sworn into office for a new term.
Lula defends a two-state solution for the Palestinian conflict and has condemned the Israeli military response in Gaza to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
The Palestine Liberation Organization has had a representative in Brasilia since Brazil recognized Palestinian statehood in 1975, and Lula’s government allowed a Palestinian embassy to be built in the Brazilian capital in 2010 at the end of his second term as president.
Palestinian ambassador in Brasilia, Ibrahim Al Zeben, said nobody officially contacted the embassy about Abuumar. “We trust Brazilian policy,” he said.
Moura said Brazilian police “simply agreed to a US request that was politically-motivated” and based on Abuumar’s name appearing on the US government’s terrorist watch list.
“The United States uses this list to make life difficult for pro-Palestinian activists,” Moura said.
Judge Cunha in her ruling approving the deportation cited Abuumar’s social media postings of him meeting in Doha with Ismail Haniyeh, a chief political leader of Hamas.
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Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi lays a wreath as he visits the burial site of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, June 3, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A member of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli air strike on Tehran alongside a member of an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group, a senior Lebanese security source told Reuters and the Iraqi group said on Saturday.
The source identified the Hezbollah member as Abu Ali Khalil, who had served as a bodyguard for Hezbollah’s slain chief Hassan Nasrallah. The source said Khalil had been on a religious pilgrimage to Iraq when he met up with a member of the Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada group.
They traveled together to Tehran and were both killed in an Israeli strike there, along with Khalil’s son, the senior security source said. Hezbollah has not joined in Iran’s air strikes against Israel from Lebanon.
Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada published a statement confirming that both the head of its security unit and Khalil had been killed in an Israeli strike.
Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli aerial attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs in September.
Israel and Iran have been trading strikes for nine consecutive days since Israel launched attacks on Iran, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran has said it does not seek nuclear weapons.
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Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip
Israeli soldiers operate during a ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, July 3, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), in cooperation with the General Security Service (Shin Bet), announced on Friday the killing of Ibrahim Abu Shamala, a senior financial official in Hamas’ military wing.
The operation took place on June 17th in the central Gaza Strip.
Abu Shamala held several key positions, including financial officer for Hamas’ military wing and assistant to Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’ military wing until his elimination in March 2024.
He was responsible for managing all the financial resources of Hamas’ military wing in Gaza, overseeing the planning and execution of the group’s war budget. This involved handling and smuggling millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip to fund Hamas’ military operations.
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Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 20, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei named three senior clerics as candidates to succeed him should he be killed, the New York Times reported on Saturday citing unnamed Iranian officials. It is understood the Ayatollah fears he could be assassinated in the coming days.
Khamenei reportedly mostly speaks with his commanders through a trusted aide now, suspending electronic communications.
Khamenei has designated three senior religious figures as candidates to replace him as well as choosing successors in the military chain of command in the likely event that additional senior officials be eliminated.
Earlier on Saturday Israel confirmed the elimination of Saeed Izadi and Bhanam Shahriari.
Shahriari, head of Iran’s Quds Force Weapons Transfer Unit, responsible for arming Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, was killed in an Israeli airstrike over 1,000 km from Israel in western Iran.
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