U.S. weapons provided to Ukraine and left behind in Afghanistan may have ended up in the hands of Palestinian terrorist groups active in the Gaza Strip, according to multiple reports.
Hamas terrorists from Gaza launched a surprise attack on Israel at dawn on Saturday, killing more than 700 Israelis. The terrorists also kidnapped more than 130 civilians who are being held in locations across Gaza. The terrorists carried out the assault using what appeared to be “drones, rocket-propelled grenades, anti-tank guided missiles and assault weapons,” CNN reported.
Air raid sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on Monday as the rocket strikes continued. An IDF spokesperson said Israel would retaliate by ridding Hamas of its “military capabilities to fight and to harm Israeli civilians, and also achieve the situation where Hamas no longer has the ability to govern the Gaza Strip.”
As of noon Monday, there were at least 560 Palestinians reportedly killed in retaliatory Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip.
The sneak attack— the deadliest offensive against Israel in 50 years—came less than three weeks after Joe Biden delivered $6 billion in ransom to Iran. Even the Washington Post objected to the prisoner swap agreement, saying in an editorial last month that “these sorts of deals reward noxious regimes and encourage more hostage-taking.”
A spokesperson for Hamas said Monday that the terrorist group would start executing the civilian hostages on live TV if any more people in Gaza die from the IDF retaliatory attacks.
BREAKING: A spokesperson for Hamas just said that they are going to start executing civilian hostages they took from Israel on live TV if people in Gaza die from the IDF fighting back as a result of Hamas using them as human shields.
This is what leftists are defending. pic.twitter.com/RhWDX1wb4V
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) October 9, 2023
Gruesome video footage allegedly shows the terrorists beheading a number of Israeli soldiers in a manner described as “worse than ISIS.”
Israeli soldiers brutally beheaded in recordings released by Palestinian Islamist terrorists — the gruesome footage is described as “worse than ISIS” — and I don’t think we’re ready to see what that means. No visuals for this one. Not yet, anyway. pic.twitter.com/G9sJWmlpO0
— Marina Medvin 🇺🇸 (@MarinaMedvin) October 9, 2023
The Biden regime has delivered over $15 billion in weapons and equipment to Ukraine since the Russian invasion, and some of it has been reported missing.
A high-ranking Israel Defense Forces (IDF) commander told Newsweek in June said that there were “troubling” signs that U.S. weapons provided to Ukraine—such as the Javelin shoulder-fired anti-tank missile system—were being diverted by both sides and transferred to Iran.
The Israeli commander said pro-Russian formations were motivated to transfer captured U.S.-supplied weapons due to the close defense relationship between Moscow and Tehran, while pro-Ukrainian elements were largely motivated by money to smuggle arms. The commander said the primary route was via the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, and argued that the situation was “very dangerous” due to two primary concerns for Israel.
“One is that they can research capabilities, and then learn how to manufacture them. I’m talking especially about Iran,” the Israeli commander told Newsweek. “The other problem is that we are very worried that some of these capabilities are going to fall to Hezbollah and Hamas’ hands.”
The commander said it was difficult to ascertain the exact amount of weapons diversion was taking place because the IDF mainly focuses on monitoring events in the Middle East, while the current flow of arms was coming from Europe and North Africa.
“It’s really challenging to build the picture, but we see the signs,” the Israeli commander said. “We see the signs, and this is very, very troubling.”
In a statement to CNN in July, a State Department spokesperson admitted that there was a risk that some of the equipment could be stolen.
“The US government remains keenly aware of the risk of possible illicit diversion and is proactively taking steps to mitigate this risk in close cooperation with the government of Ukraine. We are realistic that we are sending weapons to help Ukraine defend itself in an active conflict, and there is a risk these weapons could be captured if territory changes hands – which happens in any war,” the spokesperson said.
There are also concerns that U.S. weapons left behind during the Biden regime’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan have also made their way to Gaza. An estimated $7 billion worth of military equipment—including aircraft, air-to-ground munitions, military vehicles, weapons, communications equipment and other materials—fell into the hands of the Taliban when U.S. forces withdrew from Afghanistan in August of 2021.
“Billions of dollars’ worth of U.S.-supplied military equipment and weapons, given to the Afghan government, is now unaccounted for and in the possession of the Taliban and other bad actors,” a group of House Republican leaders wrote in a Fox News piece a year later.
According to CNN, nearly 42000 night vision, surveillance, biometric and positioning equipment” were left behind, as well as 17,500 “pieces of explosive detection, electronic countermeasure, disposal and personal protective equipment.” In the wake of the botched withdrawal, there were into the hands of Islamic terrorists throughout the Middle East.
Authorities in Indian-controlled Kashmir told NBC in January that Pakistani terrorists were using some of the weapons in the 30-year regional conflict. According to officials, most of the recovered munitions were used by Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), two Pakistan-based militant groups that the U.S. designates as terrorist organizations.
Experts warned that this “could be just the start of the weapons’ global journey.”
The White House called an early “lid” for Joe Biden Monday morning.
“We do not expect to see or hear from President Biden for the rest of the day,” reported Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich.
A senior Hamas official reportedly told Al Jazeera in a phone interview Monday that the group is open to negotiating a possible truce with Israel, having “achieved its targets.”