Seven suspects linked to a foiled December terrorist plot in Denmark have connections to Hamas, the militant terror group, Danish police have said.

Anders Larsson, a Danish prosecutor, confirmed that the alleged plotters had “links to Hamas” following a court hearing behind closed doors on Friday.

It came after Danish authorities announced on Dec 14 that they had arrested three people for plotting a terror attack, later expanding the number of suspects to seven.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said at the time that Danish authorities had “thwarted an attack, the goal of which was to kill innocent civilians on European soil”.

In a statement cited by the Times of Israel he added: “The Hamas terrorist organisation has been working relentlessly and exhaustively to expand its lethal operations to Europe, and thereby constitute a threat to the domestic security of these countries.”

Peter Hummelgaard, the Danish justice minister, said the links with Hamas “confirms that the threat against Denmark is serious, but luckily we have a strong police and intelligence service doing their best to protect us every day.”

Europe has been on high alert for Hamas and other Islamist-inspired terror attacks since the Oct 7 massacre in southern Israel. The onslaught by Hamas, which killed more than 1,000 Israelis, led to Israel waging its biggest ever war on the Gaza Strip, which so far has killed at least 23,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Also in December, German authorities arrested three suspects allegedly involved in the same plot across European borders, targeting Jewish institutions in Berlin and possibly elsewhere.

Members of Hamas were suspected of bringing a cache of weapons from an undisclosed location in Europe to Berlin for the attack, German prosecutors said.

Bild, the German tabloid, identified the suspects arrested in Berlin as Lebanese-born Abdelhamid Al A, Egyptian citizen Mohamed B and Lebanese-born Ibrahim El-R.

The plot does not appear to have any links to the UK. However, the Community Security Trust (CST), a body which provides security advice and protection to synagogues, said the arrests had worrying implications for Britain.