Direct proof of use
The PKM/PK family's documented appearance in the 2023 Israel-Hamas War is through the Chinese Type 80 and Iranian PKM-T80 copy branch. Associated Press reviewed more than 150 videos and photographs from the first three months after the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack and reported that Hamas fighters were seen carrying Type 80 machine guns. AP identified the Type 80 as a Chinese machine-gun version also copied by Iran and renamed PKM-T80.
That evidence supports a narrow use claim: Hamas and Gaza-based armed groups fielded a PKM-pattern Type 80/PKM-T80 machine gun as portable infantry fire support. The public reporting does not establish that the observed guns were Soviet- or Russian-made PKM examples, and AP cited a Royal Armouries curator saying the Chinese and Iranian versions were difficult to distinguish from the available imagery.
Sources: AP Hamas Patchwork Weapons, Times of Israel Hamas Arsenal
Timeline
On October 7, 2023, Hamas and other Gaza-based armed groups launched the attack that began the war. AP's later weapons analysis covered imagery from the first three months of combat after that attack and placed Type 80/PKM-T80 machine guns within the weapons carried by Hamas fighters.
On January 15, 2024, AP published the Type 80/PKM-T80 identification. The Times of Israel carried the same relevant reporting in a January 16 article on Hamas's wartime arsenal.
Sources: AP Hamas Patchwork Weapons, Times of Israel Hamas Arsenal, AP October 7 Attack Report
Narrative
Within the Gaza war record, the PKM/PK entry is best read as a family-level page covering a close PKM-pattern copy rather than a confirmed original PK or PKM. The parent weapon record already links the Type 80/PKM-T80 as a related branch of the PKM/PK family, while the direct conflict evidence names the Type 80 and PKM-T80 labels.
AP described Hamas fighters in Gaza as typically carrying portable weapons and using hit-and-run tactics against Israeli forces. In that context, the Type 80/PKM-T80 identification places the PKM-pattern gun in the dismounted infantry fire-support role rather than as a vehicle-mounted heavy weapon or fixed defensive system.
The source record separates fielded use from origin claims. AP reported that the weapons could have been smuggled, obtained through black-market channels, or produced as copies, and that the imagery did not prove whether any government supplied the weapons to Hamas.
Sources: AP Hamas Patchwork Weapons, Times of Israel Hamas Arsenal, Military Factory Type 80
