LONDON — Two young men and a teenage boy appeared before Westminster Magistrates' Court in London on Saturday on arson charges in connection with a March 23 fire that destroyed four ambulances belonging to the volunteer organization Hatzola Northwest in Golders Green. The three suspects were ordered to remain in custody after a 45-minute hearing in which none of the defendants entered pleas.

British men Hamza Iqbal, 20, and Rehan Khan, 19, along with a 17-year-old boy of dual British-Pakistani nationality from east London, were charged on Friday with arson and being reckless as to whether life would be endangered. The 17-year-old suspect cannot be named for legal reasons because he is under 18. He will be held in a youth detention center while the case proceeds through the courts.

The fire broke out on March 23 in Golders Green, a north London neighborhood with a large Jewish population. The blaze destroyed four ambulances operated by Hatzola Northwest, a volunteer emergency medical service. Oxygen cylinders stored inside the vehicles exploded during the fire, breaking windows in an adjacent apartment block. The fire was brought under control, and no injuries were reported.

Prosecutor Emma Harraway told the court during Saturday's hearing that "there is significant evidence that this was a premeditated and targeted attack against the Jewish community."

Counterterrorism police are investigating the fire as an antisemitic hate crime. Investigators are also looking into a claim of responsibility by a group with potential links to Iran, though they have not declared the fire an act of terrorism. A fourth suspect was arrested in connection with the blaze, and two other men were previously released on bail after being arrested on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life.

Iqbal, Khan, and the teenage defendant are set to appear at London's Central Criminal Court on April 24.

The U.K. and Europe have seen a rise in antisemitic incidents in recent months. In early March, two men were charged with carrying out "hostile" surveillance of London's Jewish community on behalf of Iran. An explosion occurred outside a Jewish school in Amsterdam in recent months, and nighttime attacks took place in front of synagogues in the Belgian city of Liege and the Dutch port city of Rotterdam earlier this month. Officials in France said they foiled a suspected terror plot aimed at Jewish targets in March.