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Hamas Using North Korean Weapons Against Israel, South Korea Confirms
North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un speaks at the 5th National Meeting of Mothers in Pyongyang in this picture released by the Korean Central News Agency on Dec. 5, 2023. Photo: KCNA via REUTERS
Hamas terrorists have been using weapons made in North Korea in their war on Israel, South Korea’s spy agency confirmed on Monday.
The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) released a photo showing a disassembled F-7 rocket-propelled grenade launcher manufactured in North Korea.
“The fuse with the Korean characters is located in the mid-section of the North Korean-made F-7 rocket,” the agency told South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, adding that it was “collecting and accumulating” evidence of North Korea’s suspected supply of weapons to Hamas.
“But it is currently difficult to provide such evidence due to the need to protect information sources and in consideration of diplomatic ties,” the agency added.
(LEAD) S. Korea’s spy agency confirms Hamas’ suspected use of N. Korean weapons https://t.co/k7dAojmp9z
— Yonhap News Agency (@YonhapNews) January 8, 2024
The news came after Voice of America (VOA) reported last week that Hamas, the Palestinian terror group that rules Gaza, was using North Korean weapons. In addition to the F-7 grenade launcher, Hamas propaganda videos and photos have reportedly shown its terrorists with North Korea’s Bulsae guided anti-tank missile.
The VOA report detailed a looming lawsuit brought by families of Americans killed by Hamas terrorists during their rampage across southern Israel on Oct. 7 — when they killed 1,200 people (including at least 31 Americans) and kidnapped 240 others as hostages — against the North Korean regime for allegedly supplying Hamas with weapons.
The attorney for the group, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, told VOA that North Korea “knows its weapons go to Iran, and Iran gives the weapons to Hamas,” making North Korea “liable.” Iran is the main international sponsor of Hamas, providing the terror group with arms, funds, and training.
Darshan-Leitner pointed to mounting evidence, including rocket launchers discovered by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), that use parts from North Korea.
Asked about the report, the NIS said its “assessment is the same as the VOA report.”
Early in the Israel-Hamas war, which began with the Oct. 7 massacre, Akiva Tor, who serves as the Israeli ambassador to South Korea, charged that Hamas was using North Korean weapons. “In Gaza, as it is the one which attacks us, they use North Korean weapons. It could be that these North Korean weapons have been in Iran for quite a long time,” Tor said.
Pyongyang, which voiced support for Hamas after the Oct. 7 attack, pushed back on these claims, saying they are “groundless and false rumors to shift the blame for the Middle East crisis caused by its wrong hegemonic policy onto a third country.”
However, South Korea’s military has said that Hamas and North Korea appear to be linked in the global arms trade and that the latter could use military tactics similar to those used against Israel on Oct. 7 for a surprise attack on South Korea.
Yonhap also noted that the NIS reported during a parliamentary intelligence committee meeting in November that it obtained intelligence that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered officials to come up with measures to provide comprehensive assistance to the Palestinians.
North Korea has maintained diplomatic relations with Palestinian leaders since the 1960s.
Hamas is not the only foreign entity said to receive North Korean arms. US officials have said, for example that Russia is using weapons from North Korea in its war against Ukraine.
The post Hamas Using North Korean Weapons Against Israel, South Korea Confirms first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.