By Howie Silbiger
For years, European governments treated Hamas as an Israeli problem and its presence in Europe as largely political, charitable or ideological. The court records now show that while governments debated those distinctions, Hamas was building something far more dangerous.
A major investigation by Switzerland’s Neue Zürcher Zeitung, supported by German court records and terrorism casesc, now unfolding in Greece and Cyprus, has revealed that Hamas spent years building an operational network across Europe. The network allegedly included weapons caches, arms couriers, bomb-making training and operatives preparing attacks against Jewish, Israeli and Western targets.
German investigators believe one attack was planned for October 7 of last year, the second anniversary of the Hamas massacre in Israel. The intended target has not been made public, but investigators reportedly found a pre-recorded video claiming responsibility for the attack.
The investigation reaches across Germany, Austria, Denmark, Britain, Poland, Bulgaria, Greece and Cyprus, with links to Hamas commanders in Lebanon and alleged explosives training in Malaysia. The latest arrests came in Greece and Cyprus, where authorities are investigating what they believe was a cell preparing attacks against Israeli interests. Greek counterterrorism officers arrested a 37-year-old man of Palestinian origin in Crete in June. Greek media identified him as an Egyptian national named Motasem. Police said he was suspected of belonging to Hamas, receiving terrorist training and travelling for terrorist purposes.
Searches of properties connected to the suspect uncovered a precision laboratory scale, a magnetic stirrer with a heating plate, phones, computers, digital storage devices and bank cards. Police also said he had ordered substances online that could be used to manufacture explosives. Investigators believe he and another Palestinian travelled through Switzerland, Qatar and Indonesia before reaching Malaysia in 2025, where they allegedly received training in the construction of improvised bombs using commercially available materials.
Greek authorities are also investigating whether the cell was preparing to attack an Israeli cruise ship. Local reports identified the Crown Iris, which regularly docks in Greece, as a possible target. Authorities have not confirmed that the ship had been formally selected, but the suspect was arrested shortly before it was scheduled to arrive in Crete. The Greek investigation is connected to a wider case in Cyprus, where several Palestinians have been detained on allegations that they belonged to an international terrorist network.
Cypriot authorities recently arrested a 41-year-old man described as the suspected coordinator of the group after he was located in Asia and returned to the island. Investigators allege that three suspects already facing trial travelled abroad to meet him and receive operational instructions. The charges include terrorism, conspiracy to murder, membership in a criminal organization and money laundering. Those allegations have not yet been tested in court, but the existence of a Hamas weapons network in Europe has already been established in Germany.
In March, a Berlin court convicted four men of acting as Hamas foreign operatives and sentenced them to prison terms ranging from four-and-a-half to six years. The court found that Hamas had established weapons depots in several European countries so firearms and ammunition would be available for future attacks against Jewish or Israeli targets. One cache in Bulgaria was accessed in 2019 and again in 2023. Operatives also handled weapons stored in Denmark and repeatedly searched for another depot in Poland.
The Bulgarian cache reportedly contained a Kalashnikov rifle, handguns and ammunition, while other weapons were moved through Denmark and into Germany. The court found that the operation was directed by senior Hamas figures in Lebanon. One of the central figures was Khalil al-Kharraz, a senior Hamas military commander responsible for foreign operations and recruitment. He was killed in an Israeli strike in Lebanon in November 2023.
Several members of the German network attended his funeral. One reportedly served as a pallbearer and was photographed alongside uniformed members of Hamas’s Qassam Brigades. German investigators say the cell received instructions from Hamas officials in Lebanon in February 2023, eight months before the October 7 massacre, to prepare attacks against Jewish, Israeli or American targets.
Possible locations examined during the investigation included the Israeli Embassy in Berlin, Tempelhofer Feld, a former airport now used for large public events, and Ramstein Air Base, one of the most important American military installations in Europe. The inclusion of Ramstein shows that the network was not looking only at Israeli institutions or European Jewish communities. American military personnel and facilities were also being considered.
The Berlin court did not find that a specific attack had reached its final planning stage in that case, but it did find that Hamas had spent years placing weapons across Europe and maintaining operatives capable of recovering them. A second German investigation became public last fall when police arrested three suspected Hamas operatives in Berlin and seized an AK-47, several handguns and a large quantity of ammunition.
Since then, Germany’s federal prosecutor has ordered the arrests of nine suspects in Germany and abroad. Investigators say the network transported at least 13 handguns, one assault rifle and more than 900 rounds of ammunition through Scandinavia, Germany and Austria. A Hamas-linked cache discovered in a rented storage unit in Vienna contained five handguns and ammunition. A British citizen was arrested in London and accused of helping move the weapons into Austria. German prosecutors allege that the firearms were being stored for attacks against Jewish or Israeli institutions.
The evidence does not point to one isolated cell or a handful of angry supporters. Some suspects allegedly moved guns, while others stored them, searched for hidden caches, received explosives training or maintained direct relationships with senior members of Hamas’s military wing. The cases are spread across several countries, but the pattern is consistent: weapons were placed in Europe, operatives were available to retrieve them, and possible targets were being examined.
Europe has dealt with this kind of threat before. ISIS openly pursued a transnational caliphate and treated European cities as part of its battlefield. Hamas has always tried to present its war as one centred on Israel and the Palestinian territories. The distinction may matter ideologically, but it does not mean much to a Jew standing outside a synagogue, an Israeli tourist boarding a cruise ship or an American soldier stationed at Ramstein. Hamas may not be trying to govern Europe, but investigators believe it was prepared to use Europe as a place to hide weapons, train operatives and carry out attacks.
No direct Canadian connection to the network has been publicly identified. CSIS has, however, reported that at least seven of its priority investigations involving people mobilizing toward violence in 2025 were motivated, at least in part, by the Israel-Hamas war. Canadian authorities have not connected those cases to Hamas or to the European network.
The story, however, is still relevant here. Jewish institutions in Montreal and across Canada already operate under heavy security. Synagogues and schools have been shot at, firebombed, vandalized and threatened. The discovery that Hamas was storing weapons and developing operational capacity inside Western countries should end any remaining belief that its violence is confined to Israel or Gaza.
Hamas has denied connections to the suspects and continues to claim that its military activities are limited to Israel and the Palestinian territories. The investigations in Europe suggest otherwise. Weapons were buried in Bulgaria, guns were hidden in Vienna, suspected bomb-making equipment was found in Greece and operatives travelled across borders while receiving instructions from senior Hamas figures in Lebanon.
For years, European governments treated Hamas as an Israeli problem and its presence in Europe as largely political, charitable or ideological. The court records now show that while governments debated those distinctions, Hamas was building something far more dangerous.
A major investigation by Switzerland’s Neue Zürcher Zeitung, supported by German court records and terrorism cases now unfolding in Greece and Cyprus, has revealed that Hamas spent years building an operational network across Europe. The network allegedly included weapons caches, arms couriers, bomb-making training and operatives preparing attacks against Jewish, Israeli and Western targets.
German investigators believe one attack was planned for October 7 of last year, the second anniversary of the Hamas massacre in Israel. The intended target has not been made public, but investigators reportedly found a pre-recorded video claiming responsibility for the attack.
The investigation reaches across Germany, Austria, Denmark, Britain, Poland, Bulgaria, Greece and Cyprus, with links to Hamas commanders in Lebanon and alleged explosives training in Malaysia. The latest arrests came in Greece and Cyprus, where authorities are investigating what they believe was a cell preparing attacks against Israeli interests. Greek counterterrorism officers arrested a 37-year-old man of Palestinian origin in Crete in June. Greek media identified him as an Egyptian national named Motasem. Police said he was suspected of belonging to Hamas, receiving terrorist training and travelling for terrorist purposes.
Searches of properties connected to the suspect uncovered a precision laboratory scale, a magnetic stirrer with a heating plate, phones, computers, digital storage devices and bank cards. Police also said he had ordered substances online that could be used to manufacture explosives. Investigators believe he and another Palestinian travelled through Switzerland, Qatar and Indonesia before reaching Malaysia in 2025, where they allegedly received training in the construction of improvised bombs using commercially available materials.
Greek authorities are also investigating whether the cell was preparing to attack an Israeli cruise ship. Local reports identified the Crown Iris, which regularly docks in Greece, as a possible target. Authorities have not confirmed that the ship had been formally selected, but the suspect was arrested shortly before it was scheduled to arrive in Crete. The Greek investigation is connected to a wider case in Cyprus, where several Palestinians have been detained on allegations that they belonged to an international terrorist network.
Cypriot authorities recently arrested a 41-year-old man described as the suspected coordinator of the group after he was located in Asia and returned to the island. Investigators allege that three suspects already facing trial travelled abroad to meet him and receive operational instructions. The charges include terrorism, conspiracy to murder, membership in a criminal organization and money laundering. Those allegations have not yet been tested in court, but the existence of a Hamas weapons network in Europe has already been established in Germany.
In March, a Berlin court convicted four men of acting as Hamas foreign operatives and sentenced them to prison terms ranging from four-and-a-half to six years. The court found that Hamas had established weapons depots in several European countries so firearms and ammunition would be available for future attacks against Jewish or Israeli targets. One cache in Bulgaria was accessed in 2019 and again in 2023. Operatives also handled weapons stored in Denmark and repeatedly searched for another depot in Poland.
The Bulgarian cache reportedly contained a Kalashnikov rifle, handguns and ammunition, while other weapons were moved through Denmark and into Germany. The court found that the operation was directed by senior Hamas figures in Lebanon. One of the central figures was Khalil al-Kharraz, a senior Hamas military commander responsible for foreign operations and recruitment. He was killed in an Israeli strike in Lebanon in November 2023.
Several members of the German network attended his funeral. One reportedly served as a pallbearer and was photographed alongside uniformed members of Hamas’s Qassam Brigades. German investigators say the cell received instructions from Hamas officials in Lebanon in February 2023, eight months before the October 7 massacre, to prepare attacks against Jewish, Israeli or American targets.
Possible locations examined during the investigation included the Israeli Embassy in Berlin, Tempelhofer Feld, a former airport now used for large public events, and Ramstein Air Base, one of the most important American military installations in Europe. The inclusion of Ramstein shows that the network was not looking only at Israeli institutions or European Jewish communities. American military personnel and facilities were also being considered.
The Berlin court did not find that a specific attack had reached its final planning stage in that case, but it did find that Hamas had spent years placing weapons across Europe and maintaining operatives capable of recovering them. A second German investigation became public last fall when police arrested three suspected Hamas operatives in Berlin and seized an AK-47, several handguns and a large quantity of ammunition.
Since then, Germany’s federal prosecutor has ordered the arrests of nine suspects in Germany and abroad. Investigators say the network transported at least 13 handguns, one assault rifle and more than 900 rounds of ammunition through Scandinavia, Germany and Austria. A Hamas-linked cache discovered in a rented storage unit in Vienna contained five handguns and ammunition. A British citizen was arrested in London and accused of helping move the weapons into Austria. German prosecutors allege that the firearms were being stored for attacks against Jewish or Israeli institutions.
The evidence does not point to one isolated cell or a handful of angry supporters. Some suspects allegedly moved guns, while others stored them, searched for hidden caches, received explosives training or maintained direct relationships with senior members of Hamas’s military wing. The cases are spread across several countries, but the pattern is consistent: weapons were placed in Europe, operatives were available to retrieve them, and possible targets were being examined.
Europe has dealt with this kind of threat before. ISIS openly pursued a transnational caliphate and treated European cities as part of its battlefield. Hamas has always tried to present its war as one centred on Israel and the Palestinian territories. The distinction may matter ideologically, but it does not mean much to a Jew standing outside a synagogue, an Israeli tourist boarding a cruise ship or an American soldier stationed at Ramstein. Hamas may not be trying to govern Europe, but investigators believe it was prepared to use Europe as a place to hide weapons, train operatives and carry out attacks.
No direct Canadian connection to the network has been publicly identified. CSIS has, however, reported that at least seven of its priority investigations involving people mobilizing toward violence in 2025 were motivated, at least in part, by the Israel-Hamas war. Canadian authorities have not connected those cases to Hamas or to the European network.
The story, however, is still relevant here. Jewish institutions in Montreal and across Canada already operate under heavy security. Synagogues and schools have been shot at, firebombed, vandalized and threatened. The discovery that Hamas was storing weapons and developing operational capacity inside Western countries should end any remaining belief that its violence is confined to Israel or Gaza.
Hamas has denied connections to the suspects and continues to claim that its military activities are limited to Israel and the Palestinian territories. The investigations in Europe suggest otherwise. Weapons were buried in Bulgaria, guns were hidden in Vienna, suspected bomb-making equipment was found in Greece and operatives travelled across borders while receiving instructions from senior Hamas figures in Lebanon.
