Italy arrests nine over alleged Hamas funding through charities

ROME - Italian prosecutors said on Saturday they had arrested nine people on suspicion of financing Hamas through charities based in Italy, in an operation coordinated by anti-mafia and anti-terrorism units. The suspects are accused of “belonging to and having financed” the Palestinian group - classified as a terrorist group by Israel, its top ally the U.S. and the European Union - prosecutors in the northern Italian city of Genoa said in a statement.