The suspects are accused of having established arms deposits in Bulgaria and Denmark for possible attacks.
The trial of four alleged members of Hamas, suspected of having constituted stocks of weapons across Europe andn view of potential attacks against Israeli and Jewish targetsopened Tuesday in Germany.
In this historic case, the country’s main prosecutor accuses men of being members of a foreign terrorist organization.
“For the first time in Germany, people are accused of having participated as members of the Hamas foreign terrorist organization”said prosecutor Jochen Weingarten.
The suspects are prosecuted for having spotted places in Europe and having created arms deposits for the terrorist organization. They would have sent weapons through the continent in anticipation of the Hamas attack against Israel on October 7, 2023.
That day, the massacres in Israel were 1,200 people dead, for most civilians, and around 250 hostages were removed.
In response, Israel launched a large air and land offensive in Gaza, which killed more than 48,200 Palestinians, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health in Gaza. The ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians, indicates that more than half of the deceased are women and children.
German authorities have declared that theE Hamas had also considered potential attacks against the Israel Embassy in Berlin, The surroundings of Tempelhof airport in the capital, and the American air base in Ramstein in Germany.
The four accused – Abdelhamid Al A., Mohamed B., Nazih R. and Ibrahim El -R. – were arrested in December 2023. Prosecutors only identified them by their first name and initial, in accordance with the German laws on the protection of privacy.
According to the prosecutors, they all held positions of responsibility within Hamas.
Investigators allege that men established a cache of arms in Bulgaria in 2019 and another in Denmark later in the year.
Attempts to create a similar stock in Poland failed, prosecutors said.
