German federal prosecutors said on Friday they had filed charges against seven suspected members of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, accusing them of procuring weapons for a planned attack on Israeli or Jewish sites in Germany or Austria.
The attack was alleged to have been prepared last year to mark the second anniversary of the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 terrorist attacks on Israel, and were said to have targeted Israeli representatives, Jews or supporters.
The men are accused of having procured weapons and ammunition for the militant group as so-called overseas operatives, prosecutors said.
Another suspect is being prosecuted separately because he is still in extradition custody in the United Kingdom.
The federal prosecutor accuses the men, who have different nationalities, of membership of a foreign terrorist organization and preparing a serious act of violence endangering the state. The charge sheet also involves weapons offences.
Some of the suspects have been in pre-trial detention for several months. Three were arrested in Berlin in early October 2025, just days before the anniversary.
By then, the group had procured a functional fully automatic rifle, 13 pistols and more than 700 rounds of ammunition, prosecutors said.
Some of the arms were said to have been taken to Vienna and stored there by the man now being held in the UK.
Last year, German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said a terrorist threat had been averted, adding that the suspects had been monitored by domestic intelligence for some time.
Hamas has rejected any links with those arrested.
In November 2025, investigators uncovered a weapons cache in Vienna thought to be linked to the case, while at the same time a suspect was arrested in London upon request by German prosecutors.
Further arrests in Denmark, Cyprus and Berlin, among other locations, followed in the coming months.
Further details about the attack plans emerged in June, when prosecutors shared details about a pre-recorded confession video seized from one of the suspects.
According to the video, the attack had been intended to take place on October 7, 2025 - on the second anniversary of the Hamas-led assault on Israel.
The video is said to have been created by the suspect currently in custody in the UK.
German prosecutors said the military wing of Hamas had begun some time ago to set up weapons depots in Europe. High-ranking Hamas officials are believed to have asked the suspects to procure weapons and ammunition, they said.
Since July 2025 at the latest, Hamas had been planning "a specific assassination attempt in Germany or Austria against Israeli representatives, people of the Jewish faith or pro-Israeli individuals," prosecutors said.
In a separate case, four men suspected of Hamas membership were handed lengthy prison sentences in March by a Berlin court who found them guilty of operating arms caches in several European countries, which were to be used for attacks.