As the search for answers about the Hamas attack on Israel continues, some lawmakers and experts have raised questions about whether the Palestinian terrorist group managed to obtain American weapons to use against Israelis.

A top Ukrainian intelligence official said Thursday that Ukraine’s forces believe Russia supplied Hamas with weapons it captured on the battlefield in Ukraine.

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Those weapons were manufactured by the United States and the European Union and provided to Ukrainian forces for their war against Russia, Ukrainian intelligence officials said.

The Ukrainians accused Russia of giving the American and European arms to Hamas in order to undermine Western support for continuing aid to Ukraine. The U.S. has sent $113 billion to Ukraine since Russia invaded it last year.

Before the attack, an Israeli Defense Forces commander told Newsweek in June that the IDF had observed American weapons flowing into the Middle East from Ukraine, particularly to Iran. The commander said both Russians, driven by their friendly relationship with Iran, and Ukrainians, driven by money from the arms black market, had sent weapons meant to help Ukrainians.

Israelis were concerned Iran would supply those weapons to Hamas and Hezbollah, an Iran-backed terrorist group based in Lebanon. And, the commander said, the IDF had seen weapons abandoned by American troops in Afghanistan in the hands of Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip.

In 2021, the Taliban seized billions of dollars worth of American equipment from Afghanistan after President Joe Biden ordered a hasty withdrawal of U.S. troops.

By January of this year, some of those weapons had surfaced in an armed conflict in India, NBC News reported, and experts warned that American equipment and arms from Afghanistan were likely to end up with militants all over the world.

Two days before the attack on Israel, IDF forces said they seized M-16 rifles from terrorists in Gaza. The M-16 is an American-made firearm used by the U.S. military.

The Jerusalem Post reported in November 2022 that Israelis had observed an uptick in the number of M-16s that Palestinians had obtained illegally in recent months.

And social media videos featuring Hamas terrorists appeared to show some of the militants brandishing M-16 rifles on the day of their attack on Israel.

The U.S. is the largest global arms exporter, responsible for nearly half of all the weapons exports in the world.

U.S. officials have not said whether they have seen evidence that American-made weapons made their way onto the battlefield in Gaza.

The U.S. has now begun sending arms to Israel in an effort to support its defense against Hamas.

Pentagon officials have already sent missiles to Israel for the IDF to use in its Iron Dome air defense system. If the Israelis invade Gaza, however, the IDF could request more ammunition and arms from the U.S. at a time when the Pentagon is already stretching its supplies to keep Ukrainians armed for the 21st month of its conflict.

Some lawmakers have floated tying Ukrainian and Israeli aid together into one bill when the House GOP resolves its leadership crisis and resumes legislative business.

Republicans have increasingly soured on continuing large amounts of aid to Ukraine without stricter oversight or a better understanding of the U.S. plan to end the war with Russia.

Where Hamas obtained its weapons and funding remains a key question surrounding the war in Israel.

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Biden administration officials have said they see no direct proof Iran sponsored the surprise attack on Israel last week.

However, Iran has long served as Hamas's top benefactor, and its leaders openly celebrated the loss of Israeli civilians after the strike by Hamas on Saturday.