Seven people, including four suspected Hamas members, were arrested in Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands on suspicion of planning attacks on Jewish institutions in Europe, authorities in the three countries said on Thursday.
The arrests were made as Israel pressed on with its operation to destroy Hamas in the Gaza Strip, a war that was touched off by a cross-border Oct. 7 assault on Israeli towns by militants of the Palestinian Islamist movement.
Three of the suspects were detained in Berlin and another was detained in the Netherlands, all four longstanding members of Hamas with close links to the leadership of Hamas’ military branch, German prosecutors said in a statement.
A Hamas official denied those held were connected to the group.
Three people arrested in Denmark would be charged under the terrorism clause of the criminal code and put in front of a judge for preliminary questioning, police said. It was not clear if there was a link between the arrests in Denmark and those in Germany and the Netherlands.
Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told : “We deny there are members of Hamas detained in Denmark, Germany, or any other European country. Publishing these allegations aims to influence the mass rallies that are supportive of Palestine in Europe.”
Dutch police said they had arrested a 57-year-old man in Rotterdam on Thursday on request of German authorities in a Danish-German investigation.
Israel’s Mossad spy agency said Denmark had exposed “Hamas infrastructure on European soil,” a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said.
The Danish police and intelligence service were not immediately available for comment on the Israeli statement. The justice ministry declined to comment.
