A suspected Hamas operative and former bodyguard is alleged to have helped plan a terror attack in Europe while living quietly on a suburban British street.
Mohammed Alfatih Naim, also known as Mohammed Alfatih, is a father of four who was granted asylum in the UK more than a decade ago. He has since lived with his wife and three of their children in a quiet cul-de-sac.
Alfatih, the son of a senior figure in the Palestinian terror group, is accused by German authorities of moving handguns and ammunition from Berlin to a storage facility in Vienna as part of a network involving at least eight alleged Hamas operatives.
Before settling in Britain more than a decade ago, Alfatih worked as a bodyguard for then-Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and was frequently photographed alongside him.
He is now expected to face extradition proceedings in Germany, where prosecutors suspect him of playing a key role in a plot targeting Jewish or Israeli sites around the second anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.
The alleged plot raises concerns that Hamas, significantly weakened by Israeli military operations in Gaza, may be shifting its activities in Europe from fundraising, propaganda and logistical support towards carrying out attacks.
Alfatih’s arrest last autumn can be reported after he was convicted today in a separate, non-terror-related case involving an attack on a bailiff outside his terraced home.
He is believed to be the only person living in Britain alleged to have taken part in Hamas terror operations.
Mohammed Alfatih is accused of moving weapons, including handguns and ammunition, from Berlin to a storage facility in Vienna
German prosecutors allege that Alfatih recorded a ‘confession video’ for Hamas’s military wing, appearing masked with guns laid out on a desk in front of him
Mohammed Alfatih, second from right, pictured in Gaza in 2006 when he was a bodyguard for then-Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh
The IT consultant is believed to have entered Britain illegally. According to an Israeli government source, he was granted asylum in 2015 after claiming he had been persecuted in Egypt.
By that time, however, his previous role on Haniyeh’s personal security team was publicly known. His arrest in Egypt for allegedly operating a tunnel used to smuggle gold into Gaza had also been reported in the Middle East.
The case has prompted questions about how Alfatih, who told jurors he became a British citizen six years ago, was able to settle in the country and establish a family life despite his alleged links to Hamas.
German prosecutors allege that Alfatih recorded a ‘confession video’ on behalf of the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, intended for release after the planned attack.
According to German media reports, he appeared masked and carrying weapons in front of a Hamas flag. During a four-and-a-half-minute speech, he reportedly vowed ‘revenge’ for what he described as Israel’s ‘genocide’ in Gaza.
An indictment prepared in Berlin states that British police found the video on an SD card seized from Alfatih. Officers also recovered a red polo shirt from his home in the fashionable Kings Heath area of Birmingham.
The document said the shirt ‘appears to be the same shirt worn by the speaker in the claim-of-responsibility video’.
The indictment, prepared for the prosecution of seven other alleged Hamas members already in German custody, says Alfatih served in Haniyeh’s personal security team around 2006, ‘and thus held a position of special trust directly within the top leadership’.
Alfatih is also the son of Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas figure who served as health minister in Gaza under the first Hamas-led government and has been a senior member of the proscribed group’s decision-making Politburo since 2020.
Alfatih, left, stands beside Haniyeh in Gaza in February 2007
A previous Birmingham court hearing was told that Alfatih was awaiting extradition to Germany over ‘terrorism offences linked to Hamas’ alleged under German law
The other seven people arrested with Alfatih include two German nationals, one Dane, one Bulgarian and three Lebanese nationals.
German prosecutors accuse the group of being Hamas members who were preparing to carry out an attack.
The indictment against the seven, first reported by Die Welt, alleges that Alfatih collected five firearms during a handover at Berlin’s Hasenheide park on July 28 last year.
On August 1, he allegedly transported the weapons to Vienna, where he placed the firearms, magazines and ‘disguise materials’—including a scarf, hat and gloves—in a storage unit.
Alfatih, who is due to be prosecuted separately from the other seven suspects, allegedly returned to Berlin by air on August 25. The indictment says a customs search uncovered a forged Greek identity document and driving licence in his possession.
Investigators believe he met an alleged Hamas operative in Berlin that evening to collect ammunition for the planned attack.
Arrests began on October 1 last year, after investigators observed another weapons handover involving alleged members of the cell in a Berlin courtyard.
Alfatih, pictured, said he acted in self-defence when he attacked bailiff Kevin Bucknall
The weapons cache included a fully automatic assault rifle, eight Glock 26 semi-automatic pistols and more than 600 rounds of live ammunition.
The alleged cell is thought to have identified Israeli diplomats, Jewish community centres and pro-Israel demonstrations as its main targets.
Prosecutors allege that Alfatih remained in contact with his father during late July and August last year. In a WhatsApp exchange on July 29, he reportedly said all was well but asked for prayers.
The indictment notes that Bassem Naim had been placed on the United States sanctions list in November 2024 for ‘supporting terrorism’. It also suggests that Alfatih advised his father on American politics and Hamas ceasefire negotiations with Israel during August and September 2025.
Intelligence cited in the indictment says Alfatih worked as Haniyeh’s personal bodyguard ‘before and around 2006’, meaning he ‘held a position of special trust’ within Hamas’s senior leadership.
Some of the weapons seized by European intelligence and law enforcement agencies last autumn
German prosecutors describe Alfatih as a ‘high-ranking Hamas foreign operative with direct links to the leadership circle of the Hamas Politburo’ who was directly involved in the transfer of weapons and ammunition.
After claiming asylum in Britain in 2015, Alfatih established two IT companies in Birmingham and appeared to lead an ordinary life. He even posted favourable Google reviews for businesses near his home.
During his eight-day trial at Birmingham Crown Court, jurors heard that debt enforcement officer Kevin Bucknall suffered a 1-2cm cut to his head after being stabbed through a car window. Mr Bucknall had been chased from Alfatih’s two-bedroom property on October 14 last year.
Alfatih, 40, told the court that he was born in Germany, raised in Gaza and arrived in Britain in 2014. He was convicted of wounding, two offences of possessing a bladed article and criminal damage.
He was acquitted of wounding with intent.
The defendant will be sentenced at a later date. He is expected to serve any prison sentence in Britain before extradition proceedings to Germany continue.
Mr Bucknall had visited the property to recover goods to cover a debt incurred after Alfatih’s wife failed to pay parking fines.
The court was shown footage of the confrontation between Alfatih and the bailiff in the street outside the house.
Jurors also watched bodycam footage from Mr Bucknall showing the pair struggling inside the property as Alfatih’s wife and child screamed in the background.
Prosecutor Matthew Brook KC said that, after Mr Bucknall retreated to his van, Alfatih approached him carrying two kitchen knives and a rock. He allegedly used the rock to smash the driver’s window before lunging at the bailiff with one of the knives.
Alfatih’s alleged status as a terror suspect was not mentioned during the trial.
However, an earlier hearing was told that he was awaiting extradition to Germany over ‘terrorism offences linked to Hamas’ alleged under German law.
Alfatih told jurors last week that he grew up in Gaza and had been shot in the leg twice by Israeli soldiers while living under occupation—once at the age of 16 and again at 20.
He said the first shooting took place in 2003 as he walked to school with his older brother, who was killed in the attack.
Asked how his childhood in Gaza had affected him, he said: ‘Every incident you have in your life leaves a dent in your soul.
‘Your way of looking to the light becomes completely different… it severely influences your character.’
He told the court that, two days before the confrontation with Mr Bucknall, he learned that his youngest brother had been shot in the head in Gaza. He was told 24 hours later that his brother had died.
The German indictment, however, described his brother as having died as ‘a Hamas fighter’.
Alfatih said he had left Gaza for Egypt to study, but was kidnapped and tortured for 25 days during the final months of President Hosni Mubarak’s rule in 2010.
He maintained that he had acted in self-defence when he attacked Mr Bucknall.
‘I did not put hands on him,’ he told jurors. ‘I was dealing with my brother just dying, and now I’m dealing with a man in my house choking me… I was trying to defend my family, I had no intention for one second to harm anyone.’
Alfatih was arrested last November under the German extradition warrant while being held on remand over the Birmingham incident.
The extradition case was paused until the Birmingham trial ended. Reporting restrictions also prevented Alfatih from being named until the conclusion of the proceedings.
Defence witness Dr Mehdi Veisi, a consultant forensic psychiatrist, described Alfatih as a ‘pleasant’ man suffering from PTSD. He said Alfatih experienced ‘frequent nightmares, a sense of impending disaster relating to his family, and did not sleep for days’ because of his past experiences.
Dr Veisi said the death of Alfatih’s brother two days before the bailiff incident had ‘kick-started’ his traumatic memories.
At a pre-trial hearing in April, however, Mr Brook argued that the psychiatrist ‘had not been given the full picture’ of Alfatih’s background. He revealed that Alfatih’s phones contained ‘various Hamas material’.
He also said publicly available photographs showed ‘that the defendant was a Hamas bodyguard in Gaza for the then-leader of Hamas’.
Dr John Tully, a consultant psychiatrist instructed by the prosecution, told the court this week that he did not believe Alfatih had PTSD.
He said: ‘The idea that for 11 years he was going about a relatively normal life, working, having a family… (that) it would all come flooding back in one go because of an isolated incident with a parking warden, I have difficulty with.’
Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel killed around 1,200 people and resulted in more than 250 others being taken hostage.
Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency has previously said that an investigation with European counterparts led to the arrests of Hamas sleeper-cell members and the discovery of weapons stockpiles ‘intended for use by Hamas cells to harm innocent civilians on command’.
After the arrests in Germany last autumn, Israel referred to the alleged network as the ‘Hamas Octopus’.
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said European law enforcement agencies had carried out a ‘series of complex counter-terrorism operations’ that uncovered ‘weapons caches intended for use by terrorist cells to harm innocent people’.
Austria’s state intelligence agency, the DSN, seized an arms cache in Vienna after investigating ‘a globally active terrorist organisation with close ties’ to Hamas, according to the country’s interior ministry.
Photographs published online show Alfatih acting as Haniyeh’s bodyguard. Haniyeh led the Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip for almost a decade before being chosen in 2017 to replace Khaled Meshaal as head of the group’s political bureau.
Haniyeh was assassinated by Israel during a visit to Tehran, the Iranian capital, in 2024.
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘While we do not routinely comment on individual cases or operational matters, we take all steps necessary at all times to protect the nation’s security.’
Additional reporting by Kristina Wemyss in Berlin, Rob Hyde in Bremen and Natalie Lisbona in Jerusalem
