German prosecutors have charged seven suspected Hamas members with planning a major attack against Israelis and Jews in Germany or Austria.
Two of them have links to Denmark.
They had acquired automatic rifles and pistols
The attack was planned to take place around the second anniversary of Hamas’s terrorist attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. The targets were Israeli representatives, Jews and pro-Israel individuals.
Prior to their arrests, the group had acquired a fully automatic rifle, 13 pistols and over 700 rounds of ammunition. According to the German public prosecutor’s office, the men were acting on orders from senior Hamas leaders.
Two from Copenhagen
A 25-year-old Danish national was arrested near Copenhagen on 27 May. He is alleged to have handed over five pistols and ammunition to an intermediary in July the previous year. The intermediary arranged for the weapons to be transported on to Vienna, where they were found in a rented warehouse that autumn.
A man of Lebanese origin, resident in Copenhagen, was arrested on a German motorway after crossing the border from the Czech Republic. He is alleged to have procured eight Glock pistols, an automatic rifle and over 600 rounds of ammunition, which were passed on to a contact in Berlin. Danish police searched his home in Copenhagen that same night.
The ringleader escaped in London
An eighth suspect, described as a key figure in the network, was arrested in London and has not been extradited to Germany. He is alleged to have transported weapons to Vienna and recorded a video in which he claimed responsibility for the planned operation on behalf of Hamas.
Hidden cache near Nyborg
This is not the first case linking Hamas’s European weapons network to Denmark. In 2024, German investigators revealed that Hamas had for several years maintained a hidden weapons cache near Nyborg on the island of Funen, where at least one pistol was found. The cache had been dismantled around two years before this came to light.
According to the German investigation documents, Hamas is said to have set up similar caches in several locations across Europe, with suspicions of similar depots in Bulgaria and Poland. The Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET) declined to comment on the matter.
“This is quite serious,” said Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, without going into detail.
