German federal prosecutors announced on Monday that they have charged four alleged members of Hamas, accusing them of acquiring and storing weapons for the group in Europe, AFP reported.
The suspects include two individuals born in Lebanon, an Egyptian national, and a Dutch citizen, all facing charges of "membership in a foreign terrorist organization," according to a statement from the federal prosecutor's office.
Prosecutors alleged the men "held important positions within the association with direct ties to leaders of the military wing" of Hamas.
Among them, Ibrahim El-R., one of the Lebanese suspects, is accused of establishing a weapons depot for Hamas in Bulgaria. The storage site, set up in early 2019, reportedly housed weapons such as a Kalashnikov assault rifle and ammunition.
Additionally, in mid-2019, Ibrahim El-R. allegedly dismantled another weapons cache in Denmark, transporting a pistol from there to Germany. Between June and December 2023, investigators said all four suspects traveled from Berlin in search of another Hamas weapons cache in Poland but were unable to locate it.
Prosecutors stated that Hamas had "set up underground weapons depots in various European countries in order to keep them ready for possible attacks against Jewish institutions in Europe." These depots were reportedly maintained by operatives with European residence permits, ensuring they could be "deployed at short notice."
The prosecutors added that potential targets identified by Hamas included "the Israeli embassy in Berlin, the US Air Base in Ramstein or the area around Tempelhof Airport in Berlin."
The four suspects were apprehended in December 2023. Dutch citizen Nazih R. was arrested in Rotterdam by local authorities, while the other three were detained in Berlin.
Germany has been on high alert for possible Islamist attacks for several years and especially since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7 of last year.
The country's domestic intelligence chief warned that the risk of such assaults is "real and higher than it has been for a long time".
In late October of 2023, police in the western German city of Essen arrested a man who plotted to attack a pro-Israel demonstration.
In December of that year, a 15-year-old boy was arrested in western Germany on suspicion of planning a possible attack on a Christmas market.
Weeks later German police arrested three people over an alleged attack plot targeting the cathedral in Cologne on New Year's Eve.
In late May, German authorities arrested two men suspected of plotting a knife attack on worshippers at a synagogue in the southwestern city of Heidelberg.
Germany banned activities of Hamas and affiliated organizations following the group's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.