N. Korea Denies Its Weapons Used by Hamas against Israel

North Korea has denied allegations that Hamas is using its weapons in attacks on Israel, characterizing the claims as an attempt by Washington to shift blame in the conflict to a third-party state, Reuters reported.

Military experts this week suggested that images from the conflict indicate that Hamas fighters may be using North Korean weapons, including RPG-7 rocket-propelled grenades.

Bruce Bechtol, a professor at Angelo State University in Texas who has researched North Korean arms sales, explained that there have been reports of Hamas using these types of shells over the years.

"These could either be new supplies or from previous shipments dating back to 2009," he added. It's possible that the weapons were indirectly funneled to Hamas from North Korea through Iran or Syria.

North Korea's official Central News Agency dismissed the claims about the use of its weapons in the attacks as "groundless rumors," stating, "It is nothing more than an attempt to blame a third-party state for the crisis in the Middle East caused by the wrong (U.S.) policy of domination, thereby avoiding international criticism focused on the evil empire."

According to European researchers Joost Oliemans and Stijn Mitzer, RPG-7 shells can be easily distinguished from similar RPG shells by the red band around the warhead. 

These red bands appear in images shared by the Israeli military and on social media accounts.