Even though North Korea earlier denied that it sold arms to terrorist organisations like Hamas, it has come to light that Hamas might have used North Korean weapons during its brutal attack on Israel on 7th October.
The F-7 rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-fired weapon employed by Hamas against armoured vehicles, is one of the weapons at the forefront of the war against Israel. Two specialists on North Korean armaments and South Korean military intelligence confirmed a video of Hamas terrorists using the F-7 rocket launcher. The Associated Press also investigated weaponry found on the battlefield.
According to an AP report, these rocket launchers shoot a single warhead and can be swiftly reloaded, making them useful weapons for minuscule militias and guerrilla forces battling heavy vehicles.
“It is not a surprise to see North Korean weapons with Hamas,” said Matt Schroeder, a senior researcher with Small Arms Survey who wrote a guide to North Korea’s light weapons.
Apart from the F-7 rocket launcher, Hamas propaganda videos and images show its terrorists armed with North Korea’s Bulsae guided anti-tank missile.
According to N.R. Jenzen-Jones, the director of the consultancy Armament Research Services, Hamas also deployed North Korea’s Type 58 self-loading rifle, a derivative of the Kalashnikov assault rifle.
“North Korea has long supported Palestinian militant groups, and North Korean arms have previously been documented amongst interdicted supplies,” Jenzen-Jones said.
The Associated Press report states that they analysed a Hamas video that showed one terrorist holding the F-7 with a visible red stripe. The red stripe and other aesthetic aspects resembling the F-7 were also present in weapons recovered by the Israeli military and exhibited to journalists.
During a press conference Tuesday, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff specifically mentioned the F-7 as one of the North Korean weapons they suspect Hamas utilised in the attack.
The Israeli military refused to identify the source and maker of the rocket-propelled grenades, citing the continuing conflict with Hamas. According to Jenzen-Jones, the F-7 has been photographed in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and the Gaza Strip.
Notably, Pyongyang last week rejected claims that it was supplying Hamas with weaponry as a “groundless and false rumour” spread by the US.
“It is nothing but a bid to shift the blame for the Middle East crisis caused by (the United States’) wrong hegemonic policy onto a third country and thus evade the international criticism focused on the empire of evil,” North Korea said.