Hamas is secretly trying to cut an arms deal with North Korea so it can keep bombarding Israel with missiles fired from the Gaza Strip, according to a published report.
Officials of the terror group are suspected of having already made a cash down-payment on hundreds of rockets and communications gear they hope to buy from the North Koreans, The Telegraph reported Sunday.
“Hamas is looking for ways to replenish its stocks of missiles because of the large numbers it has fired at Israel in recent weeks,” a Western security official told the British newspaper.
“North Korea is an obvious place to seek supplies because Pyongyang already has close ties with a number of militant Islamist groups in the Middle East.”
The deal is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and is being negotiated by a Hamas-linked trading company in Lebanon, The Telegraph reported.
Ties between Hamas and North Korea were first exposed in 2009 when 35 tons of weapons was seized from a cargo plane that made an emergency landing in Thailand.
The arms were bound for Iran, which allegedly planned to smuggle them to Hamas in Gaza and the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon.
North Korean experts are also believed to have advised Hamas on construction of the extensive network of tunnels it uses to move weapons and infiltrate Israeli territory — and which Israel is trying to destroy.
Hamas resumed firing missiles at Israel Sunday morning — with six reaching Tel Aviv — despite an Israeli offer to extend Saturday’s 12-hour humanitarian
truce.
Israel responded with airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, after which Hamas said it would renew the truce at 2 p.m. local time ahead of Eid al-Fitr, the three-day Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan.
An Israeli army spokesman said Hamas missiles were still being fired after 2 p.m., however, and added that the military had not been ordered to stand down.
During appearances on the Sunday morning talk shows, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the attacks on Gaza, which have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians.
“We’re responding to Hamas action and we’re telling the civilians to leave. Hamas is telling them to stay,” Netanyahu said.
“Why is it telling them to stay? Because it wants to pile up their own dead bodies.”
In an interview excerpt broadcast during CBS’ “Face the Nation,” exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said he was “ready to co-exist with the Jews,” but reiterated Hamas’ position that it doesn’t recognize Israel.
“We are not actually fighting the Jews because they are Jews per se. We do not fight any other races. We fight the occupiers,” Meshaal said.
President Obama spoke by phone with Netanyahu on Sunday, and he “made clear the strategic imperative of instituting an immediate, unconditional humanitarian ceasefire,” the White House said.
Additional reporting by Marisa Schultz, with Post wires