Hamas planned coordinated attacks in Berlin and Vienna for October 7 anniversary

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BERLIN — Hamas planned coordinated terrorist attacks in Berlin and Vienna to mark the second anniversary of the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel, according to a 214-page indictment filed by Germany’s federal prosecutor.

The attacks were to take place simultaneously or in close succession around Oct. 7, 2025, targeting Israeli and Jewish interests in the two European capitals, according to the indictment, obtained by WELT, which — like POLITICO — is part of the Axel Springer Global Network.

The plot was supported by an international weapons-procurement network that moved pistols, an automatic rifle and hundreds of rounds of ammunition through Denmark, Germany and Austria.

Federal prosecutors said last year that they had arrested men linked to the Palestinian militant group who were suspected of planning attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets in Germany. The indictment, which has not been made public, reveals that Vienna was also an intended target — and that the attacks in the two capitals were to be coordinated. The principal targets included Israeli diplomats, Jewish community centers and pro-Israel demonstrations.

Seven men have been charged in connection with the plot and remain in pretrial detention, according to the indictment. One of the accused was working as a confidential informant for Germany’s domestic intelligence agency. The files show that the informant continued reporting to his intelligence handler while allegedly failing to disclose the full extent of his own involvement in obtaining ammunition for the group.

The indictment portrays the plot as part of a broader shift in Hamas’ operations in Europe. Intelligence assessments cited in the filing say plans existed even before the Oct. 7, 2023 attack to establish and train operational cells on the continent, using Turkey as a base and directing attacks remotely from abroad.

The prosecutors alleged the weapons operation was also coordinated from Lebanon, where a Hamas operative allegedly oversaw one of the procurement channels linking members of the network across Europe.

According to the indictment, the objective was to move beyond the fundraising, propaganda and logistical activity that had long characterized Hamas’ presence in Europe and develop the capability to carry out attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets in the West.

The plot began to unravel on Oct. 1, 2025, just six days before the planned attacks, when German authorities arrested three suspects in Berlin during the handover of a cache of weapons that prosecutors say had been assembled for the operation.

In the courtyard of a residential building on Turmstrasse in Berlin’s Moabit district, investigators seized a fully automatic Crvena Zastava assault rifle, eight Glock 26 pistols and more than 600 rounds of ammunition, according to the indictment. The weapons had been transported to Berlin through a procurement chain stretching across Germany and Denmark.

Investigators say the group operated two distinct but coordinated weapons channels. One supplied the Berlin arsenal, while the other moved five handguns and ammunition from Copenhagen through Berlin to Vienna, where they were stored in a rented unit together with clothing and other equipment.

The indictment also says one of the suspects recorded a claim-of-responsibility video in Vienna in August 2025, weeks before the planned attacks. Masked and armed in front of a Hamas flag, he threatened acts of revenge in Europe in the name of the Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing.

The case is now before the state-security division of Berlin’s highest state court and is expected to become one of Germany’s most significant terrorism prosecutions in recent years.

Per Hinrichs is a reporter at WELT.

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