Unveiling the Secret: How Hamas Acquires Weapons with Strategic Brilliance and International Connections

Last weekend, Hamas, an Islamist militant group, carried out a relentless assault on Israel, utilizing a vast arsenal including thousands of rockets and missiles, explosive-laden drones, as well as an undisclosed quantity of small arms and ammunition. However, the attack originated from the Gaza Strip, a Hamas-governed enclave measuring 140 square miles (360 square kilometers), located along the Mediterranean coast and sharing borders with Israel on two sides and Egypt on one.

It is a deprived and densely populated region, lacking adequate resources. For nearly 17 years, it has been effectively isolated from the rest of the world due to Hamas' takeover, leading to Israel and Egypt imposing a severe blockade on the area that remains in place.

Israel's air and naval blockade of Gaza, coupled with extensive surveillance measures, raises an important question: How did Hamas manage to accumulate such a significant arsenal that allowed them to execute coordinated attacks resulting in over 1,200 casualties in Israel and countless injuries, all while consistently launching rocket attacks on Israel?

The answer, according to experts, is through a combination of guile, improvisation, tenacity and an important overseas benefactor.

Members of the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, are shown in January 2017.

Said Khatib/AFP/Getty Images/FILE

The Iran factor

"Hamas acquires its weapons through smuggling or local construction and receives some military support from Iran," the CIAs World Factbook says.

The Israeli and US governments have not uncovered any direct involvement of Iran in the recent raids. However, experts suggest that Iran has been a major military supporter of Hamas for a long time, utilizing covert cross-border tunnels or boats to smuggle weapons into the enclave and evade the Mediterranean blockade. Bilal Saab, senior fellow and director of the Defense and Security Program at the Middle East Institute (MEI) in Washington, stated that despite frequent attempts by Israel and Egypt to weaken Hamas' tunnel infrastructure, it still remains significant.

Daniel Byman, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), stated that Hamas has obtained weapons from Iran through underground tunnels in the Gaza Strip. These weapons often include long-range systems. Additionally, Charles Lister, a senior fellow at the MEI, noted that Iran has been shipping more advanced ballistic missiles to Hamas via sea, delivering them as components for construction in Gaza.

But Iran has been a mentor, too, analysts say.

"Iran also helped Hamas with its indigenous manufacturing, enabling Hamas to create its own arsenals," said Byman at the CSIS.

Ali Baraka, head of Hamas National Relations Abroad, revealed the details of Hamas' weapons production in a recent interview with Russia Today's Arabic-news channel RTArabic. In the interview, Baraka disclosed that Hamas has various local factories responsible for manufacturing rockets with different ranges, including 250 km, 160 km, 80 km, and 10 km. Additionally, the organization has factories for producing mortars and their shells, as well as Kalashnikov rifles and their bullets. Notably, Baraka stated that the bullet manufacturing process is authorized by the Russians and takes place in Gaza.

A Palestinian man is lowered into a smuggling tunnel beneath the Gaza-Egypt border, in the southern Gaza Strip, on September 11, 2013.

Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images/FILE

Recycling

The MEIs Lister stated that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran, which is a division of the Iranian military that directly reports to the supreme leader of the country, has been providing weapons training to Hamas engineers for nearly twenty years. According to Lister, this extended period of exposure to more sophisticated systems has equipped Hamas engineers with the expertise needed to greatly improve their ability to produce weapons domestically.

Tehran consistently provides training for Hamas weapons manufacturers to ensure their skills are up to date, he stated.

According to Lister, Hamas rocket and missile engineers are integrated into Iran's regional network, making regular training and collaboration in Iran essential for the overall goal of enhancing the capabilities of its proxy forces in the region.

However, despite the lack of heavy industry in Gaza, Hamas demonstrates remarkable ingenuity and resourcefulness in sourcing the raw materials for their locally-produced weapons. In contrast to most parts of the world, where weapons production is supported by heavy industry, Gaza's main industries consist of textiles, food processing, and furniture, as stated by the CIA Factbook.

Scrap iron, a significant export of the enclave, holds the potential to be utilized as a weapon-making resource within the underground tunnel network. Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, in his 2021 article for the Fikra Forum at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, reveals that a substantial portion of this metal originates from previous destructive conflicts in Gaza.

The remnants of Gaza's infrastructure, consisting primarily of sheet metal, metal pipes, rebar, and electrical wiring, have been repurposed by Hamas into weapon workshops, where they are transformed into rocket tubes and other explosive devices, according to Alkhatib. By recycling unexploded Israeli munitions, Hamas further enhances its supply chain.

"The IDFs operation indirectly provided Hamas with materials that are otherwise strictly monitored or forbidden altogether in Gaza," he wrote.

Video Ad Feedback

Drone video shows Israel pounding Gaza

00:29

- Source:

CNN

Of course, all of that didnt happen overnight.

Hamas must have extensively built up its weapons stockpile through smuggling and manufacturing over a considerable period to have fired such a large quantity of munitions in a short span of time on Saturday, according to Aaron Pilkington, a US Air Force analyst specializing in Middle East affairs and a PhD candidate at the University of Denver.

According to Baraka, a Hamas official in Lebanon, the militant group had been planning for the attack that occurred last weekend for a duration of two years.

He did not mention any external collaboration in the attack planning, stating only in the Russian media report that Hamas allies "provide us with financial and weapons support. Above all, Iran is our main source of funds and weaponry."

Moreover, experts highlight that the magnitude and extent of Hamas' assaults on Israel took them, as well as Israeli and other intelligence agencies, by surprise.

"It is important to note that launching multiple rockets is a remarkably straightforward task," stated Pilkington.

"What is truly astonishing, however, is the ability to acquire, transport, arrange, and deploy numerous rockets while evading the surveillance of Israeli, Egyptian, and Saudi intelligence agencies. It is challenging to comprehend how Palestinian militants could have accomplished such a feat without the guidance and support of Iran."

CNNs Tamara Qiblawi and Jen Deaton contributed to this report.