Prosecutors say the suspects established arms depots in Bulgaria and Denmark and were plotting attacks in Germany and beyond.

A trial began in Germany for four alleged Hamas members accused of establishing weapons stockpiles across Europe to be used in potential attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets. In a landmark case, the nation’s top prosecutor has charged the men with being members of a foreign terrorist organization. "For the first time in Germany, individuals are facing charges of participating as members of the foreign terrorist organization Hamas," said prosecutor Jochen Weingarten.

The suspects are accused of scouting locations across Europe and creating arms depots for the militant group, allegedly moving weapons across the continent in the lead-up to Hamas' October 7, 2023, assault on Israel. The attack killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, while approximately 250 hostages were abducted.

In retaliation, Israel launched a large-scale air and ground offensive in Gaza, resulting in the deaths of over 48,200 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, which does not differentiate between combatants and civilians, reports that more than half of the fatalities were women and children.

German authorities said Hamas also explored potential attacks on the Israeli embassy in Berlin, the area around Tempelhof Airport in the capital, and the US Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

The four defendants—Abdelhamid Al A., Mohamed B., Nazih R., and Ibrahim El-R.—were detained in December 2023. Prosecutors have identified them only by their first name and last initial, in accordance with German privacy laws. All four held senior roles within Hamas, according to prosecutors. Investigators allege that the men established a weapons cache in Bulgaria in 2019 and another in Denmark later that year. Attempts to create a similar stockpile in Poland, however, were unsuccessful, prosecutors said. | BGNES