Four members of the militant Islamist group Hamas were arrested in Berlin and the Netherlands, German public prosecutors said on Thursday. 

The four individuals, Abdelhamid Al A., Mohamed B., Ibrahim El-R., and Nazih R., were detained on suspicion of planning attacks on Jewish institutions in Europe by finding and storing weapons in Berlin, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

Prosecutors said that the group have been “long-standing members of Hamas and have participated in Hamas operations abroad.”

According to the prosecutor’s office, the men have close links to the organization’s military branch. 

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The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office on Thursday arrested four suspected members of the Islamist Hamas in Berlin and Rotterdam in the Netherlands. (Paul Zinken/picture alliance via Getty Images)

One of the men has Dutch nationality, two were born in Lebanon and the fourth has Egyptian citizenship.  

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According to the prosecutor’s office, under orders from Hamas, Abdelhamid began searching for an “underground weapons cache” in spring 2023, just months before Hamas terrorists launched an unprecedented surprise attack on Israel in October. 

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Hamas terrorists gather in 2017 in Gaza City, Gaza. (Chris McGrath/Getty Images/File)

According to the German public prosecutors, the hidden weapons were stored and taken to Berlin to be “kept in a state of readiness” for potential terrorist attacks against Jewish institutions in Europe.

Authorities said that the four men worked together and traveled “repeatedly” from Berlin in October 2023.

Berlin police officers leave a house with seized evidence Thursday.  (Paul Zinken/picture alliance via Getty Images)

German prosecutors said in a statement that three suspects linked to Hamas were arrested in Berlin, Germany, and one in Rotterdam, in the Netherlands.

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The three men arrested in Germany are expected in court on Friday, Dec. 15, prosecutors said.

Following the arrests, German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann said that they “must” protect Jews in Germany so they “do not have to fear for their safety again.”

“Following the terrible attacks by Hamas on the Israeli population, attacks on Jews in Jewish institutions have also increased in our country in recent weeks,” Buschmann said in a translated X post. “We must therefore do everything we can to ensure that Jews in our country do not have to fear for their safety again.”