Hamas planned ‘second October 7’ across Europe with weapons caches, sleeper c

For years, security experts largely assumed Hamas posed a direct terrorist threat only to Israel. A series of investigations stretching from Athens to Berlin now suggests that assessment may have been dangerously wrong. According to an investigation published by the Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Hamas had spent years building an operational network in Europe and was allegedly preparing attacks against Jewish, Israeli and Western targets across the continent. The newspaper described the plans as an attempt to carry out what could have become a “second October 7” on European soil. The latest evidence emerged in early June, when a Greek special forces unit arrested a 37-year-old Egyptian man of Palestinian origin at 5 a.m. in the Cretan resort town of Agios Nikolaos. The man, identified by some Greek media outlets as Motasem, had recently begun working as an electrician at a luxury hotel. Police searching his apartment in Athens found chemicals, a precision scale and other specialized equipment that could be used to manufacture explosives, according to the report. Greek authorities were alerted to him by Cypriot police, who had arrested two Palestinians near Larnaca two weeks earlier. The men had allegedly been in contact with Motasem. Greek security services then placed him under constant surveillance as part of an operation code-named Odin. Investigators believe the Greek-Cypriot cell was planning an attack on an Israeli cruise ship that regularly docks in Greece and has repeatedly drawn anti-Israel protests. Motasem and four other Palestinians had been questioned by police during one of the ship’s previous visits a year earlier, but were not arrested. The vessel was scheduled to return to Crete in June. The suspected plot illustrates the strategic advantages Greece may have offered the cell. The cruise ship was a well-known and politically charged target, while Larnaca airport has direct flights to Beirut, where a number of Hamas officials are based. The flight takes about 40 minutes. One alleged member of the cell, a 38-year-old mathematician, had also managed to enter Cyprus illegally from the Turkish-controlled north of the island. The suspects appeared to have received specialized training abroad. Investigators believe Motasem and another Palestinian traveled in 2025 through Zurich, Qatar and Indonesia to Malaysia, where they allegedly learned how to build bombs. The findings point to a level of organization in Europe that terrorism experts had long believed Hamas either lacked or had chosen not to develop. Arrests across Europe The suspected plot in Greece is part of a broader pattern that has become increasingly alarming to European security agencies. In recent months, suspected Hamas members have been arrested in several countries. One detail repeatedly appears in the investigations: Many of the leads run through Germany. Greek media reported that Motasem had previously lived in Germany for an extended period. He entered Greece in the summer of 2023 and was granted political asylum. He is far from the only suspected Hamas member with links to Germany. Since October 2025, Germany’s federal prosecutor has ordered the arrests of nine men in Germany and abroad, working in some cases with other European authorities. The arrests have included a Danish citizen detained near Copenhagen in May, as well as suspects apprehended at Berlin Brandenburg Airport, Larnaca airport and locations in London, Vienna and Berlin. Germany’s federal prosecutor, Jens Rommel, believes the suspects were preparing an attack on Jewish or Israeli institutions in Europe. Investigators also found a prerecorded video claiming responsibility for an attack, suggesting that preparations had reached an advanced stage. According to the investigation, the group had already chosen a date: October 7, 2025, the second anniversary of Hamas’ attack on Israel. Guns moved quietly across the continent The German investigation depicts a network that allegedly succeeded in transporting weapons across Europe for months without detection. In the summer of 2025, five Glock pistols were allegedly moved from Denmark through Berlin to Vienna. A Danish citizen identified as Yousif C. reportedly delivered the weapons in the German capital to a German intermediary, who then handed them to Mohammed A., a man who had traveled from Britain specifically to collect them. Mohammed A. allegedly transported the weapons to a hiding place in Vienna, where Austria’s domestic intelligence and security service uncovered the cache in November 2025. Investigators believe the network moved at least 13 handguns, an AK-47 assault rifle and more than 900 rounds of ammunition through Scandinavia, Germany and Austria. Germany had allegedly served as a logistical hub for Hamas before. Four Hamas members were sentenced to lengthy prison terms in Berlin earlier this year in a case that revealed the terrorist organization had established weapons caches in Europe well before October 7, 2023. Preparations allegedly began in 2019 In December 2023, Bulgarian police dug up a suitcase buried in woodland near the city of Plovdiv. Inside, they found weapons and ammunition. German authorities located the cache after discovering photographs on the phone of Lebanese suspect Ibrahim el-Rassatmi, a member of the four-man Hamas cell later convicted in Berlin. Investigators believe he received orders from Hamas officials in Lebanon in April 2019 to establish weapons depots in Europe. Additional caches were allegedly created in Denmark and Poland, and authorities suspect that more weapons may still be hidden in the German-Polish border region. In February 2023, eight months before the October 7 attack, the German Hamas cell allegedly received instructions from Lebanon to move the weapons into Germany and prepare an attack against Jewish, Israeli or American targets. According to investigators, the suspects conducted surveillance of Ramstein Air Base, the Israeli Embassy in Berlin and Tempelhofer Feld, a large public park in the German capital. Locating the hidden weapons proved more difficult than expected. Members of the cell repeatedly crossed the German-Polish border carrying backpacks, shovels, boots and walking sticks, but returned without finding the caches. Their movements attracted the attention of German authorities, who arrested them in mid-December 2023. Links to Hamas leadership in Lebanon Investigators believe the plans were directed from Lebanon. Members of the Berlin cell traveled there to meet Khalil al-Kharraz, a senior commander in Hamas’ military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. Al-Kharraz was killed by the Israeli military in 2023. His funeral in Rashidiya, a predominantly Palestinian suburb of the Lebanese city of Tyre, provided valuable evidence to security agencies. Footage from the ceremony reportedly showed several members of the Berlin cell in attendance. Hamas has denied any connection to the suspects arrested in Europe. The organization said the allegations were an attempt to “tarnish the movement’s reputation” and claimed its “struggle against the Zionist occupation” was limited exclusively to Palestinian territory. Hans-Jakob Schindler, a terrorism expert with the Counter Extremism Project, said the denial was not credible because of the suspects’ alleged personal links to senior Hamas figures. Media reports have identified the man arrested in London as the son of senior Hamas official Bassem Naim. Naim previously held health, youth and sports portfolios in the Gaza Strip and recently narrowly escaped an Israeli strike in Doha, according to the report. Europe as a target, not merely a refuge Schindler said the evidence from before October 7, 2023, indicates that Hamas had already viewed Europe as a potential theater for attacks. The network may have gained even greater significance as the war in Gaza weakened Hamas. The terrorist organization has lost senior leaders, while Iran, its principal sponsor, is struggling with a severe economic crisis and may no longer be able to provide the same level of financial support it once did. That weakness could push Hamas toward a new strategy. “Hamas’ weakness is not necessarily good news for Europe,” Schindler said. Terrorist organizations depend on publicity to promote their political objectives and must demonstrate their continued relevance, particularly when they are under pressure in their home territory, he said. The calculation may be brutally simple: Violence in the Middle East has become familiar to international audiences, while an attack in a major European city or on a Mediterranean cruise ship would guarantee global headlines. Countries such as Germany and Austria, which are seen as supporters of Israel, could also face intense domestic political pressure if terrorism struck within their borders. The trail from Athens through Berlin to Vienna suggests that Hamas no longer views Europe merely as a safe haven for fundraising. European governments may now have to prepare for the possibility that the terrorist organization intends to bring the conflict in the Middle East onto European soil.