3 alleged Hamas members arrested in Germany on suspicion of plotting attacks on Jewish institutions

A person crosses the street in front of a mural by Israeli artist Benzi Brofman, calling for the return of the hostages kidnapped during the Oct. 7 Hamas cross-border attack, in central Berlin, Germany, Saturday, Oct.19, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

BERLIN — Three alleged members of the Palestinian militant group Hamas were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of plotting attacks on Israeli or Jewish institutions in Germany, officials said.

The suspects are set to appear in court Thursday. A judge will then determine whether the trio can be held in custody ahead of a trial.

Germany’s federal prosecutor said the three have been involved in procuring firearms since earlier this summer. Various weapons, including an AK-47 rifle, and ammunition were found during a raid.

Hamas, however, said in a statement Wednesday that it has no connection to the three suspects, calling the allegations of a link to the group baseless and aimed at “undermining the German people’s sympathy with our Palestinian people and their legitimate struggle against the Zionist occupation.”

Hamas also said it has always confined its armed struggle to Israel and the Palestinian territories and would continue to do so.

Two of the suspects are German citizens. The federal prosecutor’s office described the third as being born in Lebanon. They were only named as Abed Al G., Wael F. M., and Ahmad I., in line with German privacy rules.

Alexander Dobrindt, Germany’s federal interior minister, said Wednesday that the country has become an area where alleged terrorists now operate, German news agency dpa reported. He added that authorities must be prepared to defend against it.

Hamas has carried out hundreds of attacks against Israeli civilians over the years but has rarely operated outside Israel and the Palestinian territories. Questions will likely be raised over whether the suspects were acting on orders from Hamas’ leadership or if they were merely sympathizers with Hamas or the Palestinian cause.

The arrests took place as Hamas said it would study U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace proposal to end the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza.

A Hamas-led attack on southern Israel nearly two years ago killed some 1,200 people and 251 others were abducted. Most of the hostages have been freed under previous ceasefire deals, but 48 are still held in Gaza — around 20 believed by Israel to be alive.

Israel’s subsequent campaign in Gaza has killed more than 66,000 Palestinians and wounded nearly 170,000 others, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and militants in its toll, but has said women and children make up around half of the dead.

Police in many European countries have been on heightened alert since the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks. Some forces have boosted security and patrols against possible attacks against Jewish or Israeli sites in recent months amid a spike of antisemitic violence on the continent and beyond.

In December 2023, four alleged Hamas members were arrested on suspicion of organizing weapons caches across Europe. It was a pilot case for prosecutors and went to trial in February.

The men are accused of seeking out some weapons depots set up years ago — as well as setting up new ones — for the militant group across Europe for later attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets on the continent, prosecutors previously said.

The weapons were allegedly moved around Europe in preparation for the Oct. 7, 2023 attack, prosecutors said.

All four had important positions within Hamas, prosecutors asserted.

The trial remains ongoing.

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Stefanie Dazio, The Associated Press