After years of confining its armed activity to the Middle East, evidence shows that Hamas has systematically established a foreign operations infrastructure across Europe, leveraging clandestine arms caches, transnational organized crime networks, and global support channels. Since October 7, 2023, joint European-Israeli counterterrorism efforts have uncovered sophisticated procurement networks, a drone plot, and target reconnaissance directed by Hamas’ Lebanon headquarters against Israeli and Western entities. Concurrently, digital tracking reveals that Hamas-affiliated Telegram channels actively disseminate tactical instructional manuals to facilitate lone-actor attacks. This includes an initiative by channel administrators to translate warfare manuals and guides, originally produced by the Islamic State, Al-Qaeda, and the Qassam Brigades, from Arabic into English. Driven by degraded military capabilities in the Gaza Strip and heightened geopolitical tensions, Hamas’ foreign strategy in recent years reflects a dual-track approach: executing coordinated, organized operations alongside efforts to catalyze lone-actor attacks across the West.
Additionally, the report examines a Spanish phone number found to be linked to Hamas IMA networks. The presence of sympathizers of designated terrorist organizations (including Hamas, which is listed as a terrorist entity by the EU) enables recruitment opportunities for terrorist groups, either by direct communication or indirect recruitment by motivating lone-actor attacks.
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