A new investigation by Germany’s Der Spiegel and Austria’s Der Standard reveals fresh details about Hamas’s terror network that prepared to carry out attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets in Europe around the second anniversary of the October 7 massacre. Among the planned targets: Vienna’s Jewish Museum and the Austrian-Israeli Society.
3+According to the investigation, Bassem Naim, a member of Hamas’s political bureau and the organization’s former health minister in Gaza, held conversations with his son Mohammed about attack plans in Austria and Germany. At the same time, the two exchanged Telegram messages on other topics, including ceasefire negotiations with Israel and American policy—even as Naim publicly condemned attacks against Jews in Europe and the United States.
3+One of the investigation’s central findings is a video Mohammed Naim filmed in August 2025 in a room he rented in Vienna. In the video, which runs over four minutes, he appears masked with two pistols laid out before him. During the recording, he threatened that “blood will be spilled” and promised to deliver Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “a message in blood,” calling for revenge against Israel. Investigators later found his traces on the seized weapons and assessed that the pistols appearing in the video were part of the weapons shipment intended for the attacks.
The investigation also reveals how the fighting equipment was hidden. Five pistols were concealed for weeks in a storage unit for rent in Vienna’s seventh district, near Jewish and Israeli institutions and major transportation hubs. The weapons were hidden inside a suitcase wrapped in aluminum foil, alongside cleaning and lubricating materials for firearms. According to investigators, the findings indicated this wasn’t just an emergency cache, but weapons prepared for operational use.
3+The investigation further shows that as early as June 2025, the Mossad passed information to Germany’s domestic intelligence service about suspects involved in weapons deals. Following the intelligence, German authorities began tracking network members as they moved between European countries and purchased weapons and ammunition.
According to the indictment filed in Germany, network members managed to obtain 13 pistols, an automatic assault rifle, and 718 rounds. Some of the weapons were smuggled from Denmark to Berlin, transferred to Mohammed Naim, and from there transported by train to Vienna. Additional fighting equipment was later seized that was intended, according to the suspicion, for additional attacks.
3+On October 1, 2025, just days before the October 7 massacre anniversary, German police arrested three of the suspects during a weapons transfer. Additional suspects were later arrested in various European countries. In total, nine people were arrested, and seven of them are awaiting trial in Berlin.
According to European security sources, the affair reflects a significant shift in how Hamas operates on the continent. While Europe previously served mainly as an arena for fundraising and establishing logistical infrastructure, now, according to investigators, the organization is also working to establish operational infrastructure, including weapons, cells, and plans for attacks against Jewish, Israeli, and pro-Israeli targets across the continent.