4 males who the German authorities say are senior members of Hamas had been arrested on Thursday on costs that they had been making preparations to assault Jewish establishments in Europe, German officers stated.
Three of the boys had been taken into custody in Berlin and one other was arrested by Dutch police within the port metropolis of Rotterdam, Marco Buschmann, Germany’s justice minister, stated in a press release.
The German federal prosecutor’s workplace stated the 4 males had been longstanding members of Hamas with ties to its army wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, and that they’ve been lively within the group’s “foreign operations.” Hamas controls the Gaza Strip and carried out assaults on Israel on Oct. 7 by which 1,200 folks had been killed, igniting a warfare with Israel.
Prosecutors gave few particulars of the alleged plot. They stated the boys had been ordered by Hamas leaders in Lebanon to carry weapons to the German capital, the place they could possibly be used to assault the Jewish group in Europe. It was unclear whether or not the boys had smuggled weapons into Berlin or not.
The authorities additionally stated the boys had been tracked in October 2023 as they looked for weapons that Hamas operatives had saved in an underground cache in Europe a while in the past. It’s not instantly clear if the boys ever discovered the cache.
The three males arrested in Berlin embrace a citizen of Egypt, recognized by authorities solely as Mohamed B., and two males born in Lebanon, recognized as Abdelhamid Al A. and Ibrahim El R., prosecutors stated. The person arrested within the Netherlands was a Dutch citizen, whose identify was given solely as Nazih R.
Legal professionals for the three males couldn’t instantly be reached. The three males arrested in Germany had been scheduled to look earlier than a choose on Friday.
“The arrest of four suspected members of the terrorist organization Hamas shows that our security authorities are extremely vigilant and act consistently,” Nancy Faeser, Germany’s inside minister who’s chargeable for nationwide safety, stated in a press release. “We have the Islamist scene in our sights.”
