Despite Pyongyang’s denials that it transfers arms to Hamas, a militant video and weapons seized by Israel indicate that Hamas fighters likely used North Korean weapons during their attack on Israel on October 7, despite Pyongyang’s denials.
Two experts on North Korean armaments have analyzed the video. Along with an Associated Press analysis of captured weapons on the battlefield and South Korean military intelligence, the video suggests that Hamas employed the F-7 rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-fired weapon typically employed against armored vehicles.
The evidence sheds light on the murky world of sanction-plagued North Korea’s use of illicit arms shipments to finance its weapons programs.
Rocket-propelled grenade launchers discharge a single warhead and can be rapidly reloaded, making them valuable weapons for guerrilla forces engaged in skirmishes with heavy vehicles while on the move. The F-7 has been documented in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and the Gaza Strip, according to the director of the consulting firm Armament Research Services and weapons expert N.R. Jenzen-Jones.
“North Korea has historically supported Palestinian militant groups, and North Korean arms have been documented among interdicted supplies,” Jenzen-Jones told The Associated Press.
According to Matt Schroeder, a senior researcher with Small Arms Survey who wrote a guide to Pyongyang’s light weapons, Hamas has published images of its fighters training with a weapon that features a rocket-propelled grenade with a distinctive red stripe across its warhead and other design elements matching the F-7.
Schroeder stated, “It is not surprising to find North Korean weapons with Hamas.”
The North Korean F-7 resembles the more widely distributed Soviet-era RPG-7 rocket-propelled grenade, with a few noticeable differences.
A militant video examined by the AP depicts a single combatant bearing an F-7. The weapons displayed to journalists by the Israeli military included this red stripe and other design elements mirroring the F-7.
In a background briefing with journalists Tuesday, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff specifically identified the F-7 as one of the North Korean weapons it believed Hamas used in the attack. The Israeli military refused to address questions from the Associated Press regarding the origin and manufacturer of these rocket-propelled grenades, citing the ongoing conflict with Hamas.
The mission of North Korea to the United Nations did not immediately respond to an AP request for comment. However, Pyongyang’s state-run KCNA news agency dismissed claims that Hamas used its weapons as “a groundless and false rumor” orchestrated by the United States last week.
Hamas propaganda videos and photographs have previously depicted its combatants with the Bulsae guided anti-tank missile manufactured by North Korea. Jenzen-Jones said he believed, based on imagery of the weapons wielded by Hamas fighters, they also used North Korea’s Type 58 self-loading rifle, a variant of the Kalashnikov assault rifle.
Additionally, Iran has modeled some of its ballistic missiles after North Korean models.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Officials in Iran long have supported Hamas and have praised their assault on Israel.
In December 2009, Thai authorities grounded a North Korean cargo plane reportedly carrying 35 tons of conventional arms, including rockets and rocket-propelled grenades, as it made a refueling stop at a Bangkok airport. Thai officials then said the weapons were headed to Iran. The United States stated in 2012 that the Thais had intercepted shipments destined for Hamas.
North Korea also faces Western suspicions that it supplies ammunition, artillery shells and rockets to Russia to support of its war on Ukraine. The White House said last week that North Korea recently delivered more than 1,000 containers of military equipment and munitions to Russia.
