Germany says raided homes of Hamas supporters

Germany on Thursday said police raided the homes of members and supporters of Hamas and another Palestinian organisation which are banned in the country.

Around 500 members of the security forces led the operation, with 13 places searched in the capital Berlin, the interior ministry said.

Four other regions were targeted to a lesser extent as police seized smartphones, laptops and various writings, the ministry added.

"We are carrying out action against radical Islamists," Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said earlier on Thursday.

"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.

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

Germany on November 2 banned Hamas and Samidoun. According to official figures, Germany hosts an estimated 450 members of Hamas, proscribed as a "terrorist" organisation by the European Union, the United States and Israel.

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 gunmen during an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, which also killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, according to Israeli authorities.

The attack prompted an Israeli military campaign against Hamas-run Gaza, which authorities there say has killed more than 14,800 people, mostly civilians and thousands of them children.