Hamas fighters on Feb. 22, 2025. Photo: Majdi Fathi via Reuters Connect

As concern persists over a potential surge in Hamas-linked attacks in Europe, Greek authorities on Saturday arrested a Palestinian man suspected of being a Hamas operative and of planning a terrorist attack against Israeli targets, in a case that has heightened security fears across the continent.

According to local media, the suspect was believed to be planning an attack on an Israeli cruise liner.

Arriving in Greece from Gaza a year ago, the 37-year-old had been granted asylum and had since been working in a hotel on the island of Crete.

Greek intelligence services had been investigating the suspect over alleged travel abroad for terrorist training, including bomb-making and explosives instruction.

Local law enforcement reported that searches at properties linked to the suspect in Crete and Athens uncovered multiple mobile phones, a laptop, external hard drives, and bank cards, along with laboratory equipment and chemicals authorities believe could have been used in the production of explosives.

Greek police have also linked him to a cell of four other Palestinians recently arrested in Cyprus on “terrorism-related offences” and are now examining whether he may have been targeting additional Israeli sites or interests across Europe.

In a separate incident, German police last week arrested an alleged Danish Hamas member over weapons procurement linked to a plot targeting Jewish and Israeli sites across Europe, marking the eighth arrest tied to the Palestinian terrorist group’s suspected network on the continent.

According to local media, the 25-year-old is suspected of acting as an arms dealer for the Islamist group, allegedly transferring five pistols and ammunition to another terrorist suspect, Abed Al G, in July.

Part of an ongoing probe into Hamas’s alleged network and operations across the continent, German authorities previously arrested Lebanese-born Wael FM along with two German nationals, Abed Al G and Ahmad I.

Prosecutors believe the three men acted as foreign operatives for Hamas and procured firearms and ammunition intended for attacks on Israeli and Jewish institutions in Germany.

Mohammed A, another alleged member of the Palestinian terrorist group, was also arrested in London last year at the request of German police, accused of receiving five handguns and ammunition from Abed Al G before transporting them to Vienna for storage.

These latest arrests form part of a major cross-border investigation involving intelligence services across several European countries — including Germany, the United Kingdom, Denmark and others —into an alleged global terrorist network linked to Hamas, following a coordinated series of operations across the continent.

During the investigation, Austrian authorities uncovered evidence suggesting that this group had brought weapons into the country for potential terrorist attacks across Europe.

Vienna authorities discovered a hidden arsenal linked to Hamas, reportedly intended for “potential terrorist attacks” targeting Jewish communities in multiple European countries.

For its part, Hamas issued a statement denying any connection to the criminal network, calling the allegations of its involvement “baseless.”

However, experts have warned that Hamas has expanded its terrorist operations beyond the Middle East, exploiting a well-established network of weapons caches, criminal alliances, and covert infrastructure quietly built across Europe over the years.