With little help from Iran, Hamas fights Israel with homemade rockets
Hamas’ rockets are locally produced and lacking a qualitative edge due to Iran’s decision to cut military support to the Islamist movement.
Unlike the previous war in Gaza in 2012, Iran has not declared the same level of support for Hamas in its current fight against Israel. Also unlike the previous war, it has not taken credit for the rockets owned by Hamas and launched on Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa and Gush Dan.
Hamas has made sure to emphasize the locally made arsenal by giving these rockets purely Palestinian names, in light of the absence of the Iranian-made Fajr rocket.
Locally made rockets were given the names of founding leaders of Hamas who were assassinated by Israel in the previous years, namely, the M-75 rockets reaching Jerusalem, R-160 rockets that Hamas used on Haifa and J-80 rockets of an 80-kilometer (50-mile) range and targeting Tel Aviv in central Israel.
Al-Monitor learned that in recent months, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades carried out successful military trials in the Mediterranean Sea of these Gaza-produced rockets with a range of tens of kilometers. The sounds of these trial operations were heard in different areas of the Gaza Strip, especially in coastal areas. Although relations between Hamas and Iran have improved, it has not resulted in the resumption of major financial aid or weapons to the Gaza Strip.
