U.S. federal investigators released transcripts Tuesday of phone calls made by an Oct. 7 terrorist who lied on his visa application to get into the United States but was subsequently arrested in Louisiana in 2025.
Mahmoud Amin Ya’qub al-Muhtadi reportedly belonged to the Gaza-based terror group the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the National Resistance Brigades and only found out about the attack via social media early in the morning of Oct. 7 after it had begun.
Investigators released the call logs, which show that al-Muhtadi assembled a team to join the invasion, as part of their probe into the terrorist. He and his comrades can be heard laughing and joking about the planned destruction as they scramble to join the attack, coordinating transportation and weapons and sharing information.
Calls show that at 8:12 a.m., al-Muhtadi told a team member to “get ready” because the “borders are open.” He told him that others were arriving in a Toyota pickup truck to join the invasion. At about 8:45, he joked with another person about the attack, saying, “Our guys are celebrating inside [Israel],” and that Gazans were celebrating. The pair repeatedly laughed about the impending destruction.
“From now till the afternoon, half of Gaza will be lost. There will be nothing left except my kiosk,” al-Muhtadi said.
“The Jews are still in shock,” the other person said.
“They are still drunk, because it’s the last day of their Eid,” al-Muhtadi said, likely referring to Simchat Torah using an Arabic word.
“There is kidnapping, and it’s a game, which will be a good one,” he added, showing that he knew hostages had already been abducted, which he said he expected would lead to a ceasefire deal.
“If things go the way they should, Syria will take part, Lebanon will take part, and it’s going to be a third world war,” he said, referring to Hamas’ idea that other countries that made up the “ring of fire” around Israel would join the attack and defeat the only democracy in the Middle East. “This war will last two months, a month, or it will be a war of attrition.”
“The guys are calling, I swear by God. They want to go inside,” al-Muhtadi said.
Other calls show the terrorists making preparations to join the invasion, discussing whether they should keep their stores open, transportation, getting coffee, and obtaining weapons. One of them said he would go without weapons because he didn’t have any.
At 9:33 a.m., a call indicated that al-Muhtadi had entered Israel.
“I went inside,” he said, laughing. “Come in, boys.”
The terrorist told the others to turn off their phones, but investigators found that his phone linked to a tower in Israel that morning, showing that he had crossed the border.
Court filings did not reveal the extent of al-Muhtadi’s participation in the attack or whether he had killed or abducted anyone.
Al-Muhtadi’s wife, Nieama Hsnein Al-Ghazzawi, serving as his visa sponsor, filled out his application and coordinated with the U.S. State Department to arrange the visa. Prosecutors alleged that she wrote on his visa application that he had never participated in firearms training, had never belonged to an armed group, and had never had ties to terrorism. They alleged that she did in fact know about his membership in the DFLP and his involvement in the Oct. 7 attack.
She was charged with fraud and is also under investigation for using a crowdfunding campaign to cover her husband’s visa costs, part of a series of crowdfunding campaigns that were used to fund terror groups.