Hamas terrorists have been documented using North Korea’s F-7 rocket launcher, the Bulsae guided anti-tank missile, and the Type 58 self-loading rifle
The October 7 attack in Israel is believed to have been carried out by Hamas militants, possibly using North Korean weapons. Various evidence, including a video showing Hamas militants using an F-7 rocket-propelled grenade launcher, as well as weapons seized by Israel, point to the involvement of North Korean weapons. North Korea has previously denied selling weapons to Hamas.
The specific weapon in question is the F-7 rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-fired device typically used against armored vehicles. This information was confirmed by analysis of North Korean weapons and South Korean military intelligence experts. In addition, the Associated Press conducted an analysis of weapons found on the battlefield.
These rocket launchers are capable of firing a single warhead and can be rapidly reloaded, making them valuable assets for small militia and guerrilla forces engaged in crossfires against heavy armored vehicles.
In the words of Matt Schroeder, a senior researcher at the Small Arms Survey, “It’s not surprising to see North Korea arming itself with Hamas.”
In addition to the F-7 rocket launcher, Hamas propaganda videos and photos have shown its warplanes armed with North Korea’s Bulsae-guided anti-tank missile.
Hamas also used North Korea’s Type 58 self-loading rifle, a variant of the Kalashnikov assault rifle, N.R. Jensen-Jones is an arms expert working as director of the consultancy Armament Research Services.
Jensen-Jones cited images of weapons used by Hamas terrorists.
“North Korea has long supported Palestinian militant groups, and North Korean weapons have previously been listed among prohibited supplies,” Jengen-Jones told The Associated Press.
Russia uses similar weapons, and the North Korean F-7 resembles the widely distributed Soviet-era RPG-7 rocket-propelled grenade, but with some notable differences, including a distinctive red stripe on its warhead.
Hamas has published training images of its fighters that show fighters armed with a rocket-propelled grenade weapon with a red stripe and other design elements that match the F-7, Schroeder said.
A militant video seen by the AP shows a fighter carrying an F-7, apparently with a red stripe. Among the weapons seized by the Israeli military and shown to journalists were red stripes and other design elements that match the F-7.
The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff specifically identified the F-7 as one of the North Korean weapons used in the Hamas attack at a press conference on Tuesday.
The Israeli military has declined to disclose the source and manufacturer of these rocket-propelled grenades because of the ongoing conflict with Hamas.
N.R. Genzen-Jones has documented the F-7’s presence in countries such as Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and the Gaza Strip.
Pyongyang has categorically denied the allegations of supplying weapons to Hamas, dismissing them as “baseless and false rumors” concocted by the United States.
“The reptilian press bodies and quasi-experts of the US administration are spreading a baseless and false rumor that ‘North Korean weapons’ were used to attack Israel,” Ri Kwang-sang, North Korea’s international affairs commentator, said through his state-run KCNA news agency.
“This is nothing more than shifting the blame for the Middle East crisis caused by a misguided hegemonic policy onto a third country and thereby avoiding international criticism focused on the evil empire,” the statement continued.
In 2012, the United States detected a North Korean cargo plane carrying rockets and rocket-propelled grenades.
North Korea has maintained diplomatic relations with Palestinian leaders since 1966.
The White House said last week that North Korea continues to supply Russia with conventional weapons, after delivering more than 1,000 containers of military equipment and weapons to resupply Russia’s military in its war with Ukraine.