Germany says raids underway on homes of Hamas supporters

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Frankfurt – Germany on Thursday said raids were underway in four regions on the homes of members and supporters of Hamas and another Palestinian organisation which are banned in the country.

“We are carrying out action against radical Islamists. By banning Hamas and Samidoun in Germany, we have sent a clear signal that we will not tolerate any apology or support for Hamas’s barbaric terror against Israel,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in a statement.

“Islamists and ant-Semites must not feel safe anywhere,” she said.

The interior ministry said 15 properties had been raided so far since 6:00 am after courts in four regions ordered the raids.

Germany on November 2 banned Hamas and Samidoun. There are an estimated 450 Hamas members in the country, according to official figures.

The ministry said that while Hamas members had not staged “violent action” in Germany so far, they had tried to raise funds to help the group overseas and “influence the social and political discourse in Germany”.

It said Samidoun on the other hand was “prone to use violence … and denies the right of Israel to exist”.

Around 240 hostages were taken by Hamas and other Palestinian gunmen during bloody raids into Israel on October 7, which also killed 1 200 people, most of them civilians, according to Israeli authorities.

The attack prompted a blistering Israeli offensive into Hamas-run Gaza, which authorities there say has killed more than 14 000 people, thousands of them children.

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