The war between Israel and Hamas has revealed extensive Chinese support for Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups that the U.S. and Israel consider terrorist organizations, according to strategic analyst Guermantes Lailari.
Mr.
Lailari, in a report published by the Jewish Policy Center, said that the
Israel Defense Forces uncovered large caches of Chinese-made weapons,
intelligence-gathering gear and other military supplies during raids in Gaza.
“The IDF
found Chinese military equipment in Hamas warehouses, including large numbers
of assault rifles (QBZ assault rifles) and grenade launchers (QLZ87 automatic
grenade launchers), telescopic sights for rifles and cartridges for M16s,
high-end communications equipment, listening devices, tactical military radios
and sophisticated explosives,” he said.
Chinese
rocket technology was also found in a Hamas weapons laboratory.
China in
January denied providing Hamas with military equipment, although Mr. Lailari
said that extensive Chinese military backing for Iran is a likely source of the
arms.
“Even if
the Chinese military supplies discovered in Gaza were provided by Iran,
[Chinese] officials knew that Iran forwarded equipment to Hamas,” he said.
“Certainly, Iran provided funding and training to use the equipment.”
Chinese
military technology also has been found in missiles used by other anti-Israel
Iran-backed regional groups such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen
and Iraqi Shiite militia groups, he said.
Mr.
Lailari, a retired Air Force foreign area officer, stated that Mohammed Deif,
the Hamas military wing leader who is suspected of orchestrating the Oct. 7
terror attack on Israel, received training in China.
In 1996,
Mr. Deif was sent by the Palestine Liberation Organization to China, where he
studied artillery and rocketry at the People’s Liberation Army’s General
Armament Department Ordnance Engineering College in Shijiazhuang, Hebei
province.
“During
his time there, he married two Chinese Muslim women from Sarta or Dongxiang
ethnicity in Gansu (China) and brought them to Gaza in 2000 after he completed
his studies,” said Mr. Lailari, a visiting scholar at Taiwan’s National
Chengchi University.
“Reports
indicate that one of the Chinese wives opened a channel to the Chinese
Communist Party leadership to maintain CCP and Hamas communications.”
• Bill
Gertz can be reached at bgertz@washingtontimes.com.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/apr/4/chinese-weapons-found-gaza-report-claims/
