Direct proof of use
AK-pattern rifles are directly documented in Hamas and Gaza-based armed group use during the 2023 Israel-Hamas War. An Associated Press analysis of more than 150 videos and photos from the first three months of combat identified AK-47 assault rifles from China and Russia among Hamas weapons, and cited an Israeli military official describing AK-47s as part of Hamas's smuggled off-the-shelf arsenal.
A separate AP report on weapons used in the October 7 attack cited imagery-based assessment by N.R. Jenzen-Jones that Hamas fighters used North Korea's Type 58 self-loading rifle, a Kalashnikov-pattern assault rifle. In November 2025, The Jerusalem Post reported an Israel Police announcement that loaded Kalashnikov rifles, identified as AK-47 rifles, were found in a closed kindergarten at Kibbutz Be'eri and were allegedly used by Hamas Nukhba attackers during the October 7 attack.
Sources: AP Hamas Weapons Analysis, AP North Korean Weapons Report, Jerusalem Post Beeri AK-47 Report
Timeline
On October 7, 2023, Hamas-led militants crossed from Gaza into southern Israel, and AP later reported expert assessment that imagery from the attack showed Hamas fighters with a North Korean Type 58, a Kalashnikov assault rifle variant. AP's January 2024 analysis then placed Chinese and Russian AK-47s inside Hamas's wider arsenal during the first three months of the war, when Hamas fighters were operating in dense Gaza urban combat.
In November 2025, local rehabilitation teams found loaded Kalashnikov rifles and handheld radio pagers inside a kindergarten in Kibbutz Be'eri. The Jerusalem Post, citing Israel Police, reported that the weapons were transferred for examination in the broader investigation of the October 7 attacks in Gaza-border communities.
Sources: AP Hamas Weapons Analysis, AP North Korean Weapons Report, Jerusalem Post Beeri AK-47 Report
Narrative
Within the conflict, the rifles' documented role was close-range infantry armament for Hamas and Gaza-based armed groups rather than a distinct long-range or specialized system. AP described Hamas fighters in Gaza as typically carrying weapons they could personally bear while using hit-and-run tactics against Israel's heavier armor, artillery, helicopters, and combat aircraft.
The available public evidence separates possession and use from supply-chain attribution. AP identified Chinese, Russian, and North Korean Kalashnikov-pattern weapons in Hamas imagery and captured battlefield material, but noted that such analysis does not establish whether governments supplied the weapons directly. AP also reported an Israeli military official's assessment that most smuggled weapons were believed to have entered through Egypt and could have been bought in regional black markets.
Sources: AP Hamas Weapons Analysis, AP North Korean Weapons Report
