North Korea denies weapon supply to Hamas, accuses US of shifting blame for conflict on third countr

North Korea refuted allegations that its weapons were being used by Hamas in the attack on Israel, asserting that such claims, as reported by certain media outlets, were part of a Washington-driven effort to shift responsibility for the conflict to a third country from itself. Military experts, earlier this week, suggested that photographs from the conflict indicated potential use of North Korean weaponry, including the possibility of F-7 rocket-propelled grenades by Hamas militants. Bruce Bechtol, a professor at Angelo State University in Texas with expertise in North Korea’s arms sales, noted that there have been reports of Hamas employing the F-7 for several years. “This could be new supplies or from previous shipments going back as far as 2009,” he said, adding that in any case the weapons likely took an indirect route to Hamas from North Korea through Iran or Syria. The North’s official KCNA news agency called the claims of its weapons being used in the attacks “a groundless and false rumour”. “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,” it said. According to European researchers Joost Oliemans and Stijn Mitzer, the F-7 is easily discernible from similar RPGs by the red band around the warhead. Such red bands are visible in photos shared by the Israeli Defense Force, and other social media accounts. The F-7, as well as small numbers of North Korean Bulsae-2 anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs), were seen in use by Hamas in 2021 clashes as well, the researchers said at the time. U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Thursday said he could not confirm the reports about the source of the rockets being used by Hamas. The United States’ security strategy elsewhere in the world including the Korean peninsula will not be affected by the Israel-Hamas crisis, Kirby added. North Korea’s state media earlier this week blamed Israel for causing bloodshed in Gaza. The latest Israel-Palestinian conflict began on the weekend with a surprise attack by Hamas, the deadliest by Palestinian militants in Israeli history.