Hamas using stockpile of Chinese weapons

Israel investigates ‘massive’ cache of hi-tech arms discovered in Gaza, amid fears Beijing sent them

CHINESE weaponry including assault rifles and grenade launchers is being used by Hamas to wage war in Gaza, Israeli investigations have revealed.

Stockpiles of hi-tech supplies uncovered by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) included telescopic sights for rifles and cartridges for M16s as well as an array of communications kit such as listening devices and tactical military radios.

Israeli investigators are working to determine how the equipment made it into Hamas’s hands, amid concerns Beijing may have been involved.

“This has come as a big surprise, as before the war relations were very good, but we have found massive amounts of Chinese weaponry and the question is, did it come directly from China to Hamas or not?” an Israeli intelligence source said.

“This is top-grade weaponry and communications technology, stuff that Hamas didn’t have before, with very sophisticated explosives which have never been found before and especially on such a large scale.”

QBZ assault rifles and ALZ87 ATL grenade launchers were among the haul uncovered by the IDF.

It warned that the weaponry was supplemented by intelligence and communications equipment suspected to be capable of working inside the terror group’s complex tunnel system, which is used by Hamas gunmen to launch surprise attacks on Israeli troops.

The discoveries threaten once thriving ties between Israel and China which have chilled in the wake of the Oct 7 attacks. Beijing’s reluctance to support

Israel’s right to defend itself after Hamas’s assault, in which 1,140 people were murdered and hundreds more taken hostage, has irked the Jewish state.

On Oct 14, Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, said Israel’s actions went

“beyond the scope of self-defence” and demanded that it stop imposing “group punishment” on Palestinians, while still refusing to condemn Iran-backed Hamas for its atrocities.

Beijing has moved to expand its influence in the Middle East as part of efforts to gain leverage against the US, and experts said the discovery of the cache of supplies would pose major strategic and diplomatic questions for China.

“The question, of course, is did the Chinese know it was going to Hamas or did it come through a third party like Iran?” said Dr Patrick Bury, a defence expert from the University of Bath and a former Nato analyst and infantry officer.

“You’re talking about what is essentially modern professional infantry kit. There is some serious kit here even though it’s not heavy weaponry. The grenade launchers are a lethal support weapon, in particular. The lethality of Hamas fighters can be raised significantly from this kind of equipment.”

Iran is known to have trained and armed Hamas terrorists and is likely to have played at least some role in the transfer of the Chinese-made equipment to Hamas, according to Dr Bury. ‘It’s so beautiful – you can’t understand how something so horrible happened here’

“If it’s a large quantity, it’s most likely a state actor involved, and that state actor is highly likely to be Iran. It could be stuff that was purchased by Iran from China and found its way to Hamas. There are other potential actors but much less likely.

“China will not like the Iranians doing this with their kit. It’s not a good look if it’s a massive haul, and trust will become an issue.”

Beijing’s own hand in arming and training Palestinian factions stretches back decades, but waned after 1992’s resumption of diplomatic ties with Jerusalem.

Relations had previously been cut under China’s hardline Communist regime, which supported the Palestinians as a symbol of anti-Western imperialism.

The resumption of ties resulted in huge economic gains for both sides and saw China emerge as Israel’s biggest trading partner.