Hamas fugitive living in north London, Sunday Times of London reports

The Sunday Times of London reported that a Hamas fugitive who “ran the group’s terrorist operations in the West Bank” and served on its ruling body is currently living in north London in an area which has the highest Jewish population in Britain.

Muhammad Qassem Sawalha evaded Israel’s security services when he used a relative’s passport to flee to the U.K. in the 1990s. He later obtained U.K. citizenship.

The paper said that after arriving in the U.K. Sawalha continued to work for Hamas, holding secret talks about “revitalizing” terrorist acts in Israel and helping to launder money to support activities in Gaza and the West Bank, according to a US Department of Justice indictment in 2004.

As recently as 2019, he took part in a Hamas delegation to Moscow.

Sawalha has never been charged with crimes in the UK.

The U.K. proscribed Hamas’ military wing as a terrorist organization in 2001, but had declined to do the same for its political wing.

However, in 2021 the U.K. classified Hamas as a terrorist organization in its entirety, insisting any distinction between its various branches was “artificial.”