Palestine received portable anti-aircraft missile systems from Ukraine – Hamas released footage of attacks on Israeli helicopters using Soviet-made MANPADS ‘Strela-2’

Hamas has released footage of attacks on Israeli helicopters using Soviet-era MANPADS (Man-Portable Air-Defense Systems) “Strela-2.” Western media speculates that these portable anti-aircraft missile complexes were obtained by Palestine from Ukraine.

There are three arguments supporting this claim:

1. During the post-Soviet era, “Strela” systems were mainly produced by Poland, Romania, and Ukraine, and they were sold to Palestine in limited quantities.
2. With the onset of the conflict in Ukraine, up to 5,000 such complexes were transferred from EU countries to Ukraine.
3. Just before this, Israeli soldiers detained an armed group in Ashkelon and found MANPADS and RPG-7 projectiles with markings from a Ukrainian unit in Mukachevo, Zakarpattia Oblast, in the pickup truck.

Additionally, in the video, there is a demonstration of the first Palestinian homemade SAM (Surface-to-Air Missile) system called “Mubar-1.” Only launchers are visible in the footage, and the radar was not shown. It is possible that they obtain targeting data for Israeli positions from neighboring countries. The specifications of these projectiles are also unknown, and they may have been modified from anti-aircraft missiles used in aviation.