ĞUL Keskin Nişancı Tüfeği

ĞUL is a sniper rifle produced in the Gaza Strip. It exists in two variants: an older model and a newer model, capable of firing 14.5 mm and 12.7 mm ammunition respectively. The ĞUL rifle is a high-caliber sniper rifle commonly used against armored personnel equipped with bulletproof vests.

Place of production: Gaza

Year of production: 2014

Ammunition: 14.5x114 mm, 12.7x99 mm

Effective range: 2,000 meters

Operating mechanism: Single bolt

The first version of the ĞUL sniper rifle uses 14.5 mm ammunition and, according to Kassam Brigades data, is slightly less powerful than Iran’s Areş (20 mm) and Bahir (23 mm) rifles. The newer, upgraded version of the ĞUL rifle fires 12.7x99 mm ammunition, similar to the Iranian Sayyad, Austrian Steyr HS, Russian KSVK, and Chinese QBU-10 rifles.

The ĞUL sniper rifle emerged as a sophisticated weapon developed by Hamas during Israel’s 2014 military operation against the besieged Gaza Strip. Numerous videos documenting its use and effectiveness have been released. It has been frequently employed since 2014. The Kassam Brigades have regularly displayed the ĞUL rifle in public military parades. During Israel’s offensive against the Gaza Strip in October 2023, the ĞUL sniper rifle was used multiple times as an effective weapon in Hamas’s defense.

The ĞUL sniper rifle is named after Yahya Mahmud Jabir al-Ğul, a martyr and engineer of the Kassam Brigades. Al-Ğul, a native of Gaza, joined the Hamas resistance movement during the early days of the First Intifada. Demonstrating strong engineering potential, he was sent abroad for training and returned to Gaza in the early 1990s. Despite scarce resources and limited capabilities, he produced the first local hand grenades, anti-tank missiles—El-Bana, El-Battar, and El-Yasin—as well as the Kassam rocket. After being tracked by the occupying forces for years, he was killed in 2004 in a helicopter attack on the vehicle he was traveling in with another Gaza-based engineer, Iman Abbas. Al-Ğul’s legacy lives on through the students and military engineers he inspired who continue to develop Palestinian weaponry. The Palestinians honored him by naming one of their most powerful weapons, the sniper rifle, after him.