An Egyptian court ruled on March 4 to forbid all activities in Egypt by Gaza-based terrorist group Hamas. The court ruling cuts off all official Hamas-Egyptian ties and closes all Hamas offices and infrastructure within Egypt. Hamas operatives currently in Egypt have “now lost all legal cover,” and “should be arrested,” according to the filing lawyer Samir Sabry, reported the Times of Israel.

The Cairo court’s potent ruling against Hamas comes two months after Egypt’s military-backed interim government branded the Muslim Brotherhood (Hamas’s Egyptian mother) a terrorist organization. Incarcerated Brotherhood members face charges that could lead to the death penalty. Now that Hamas is outlawed from Egyptian territory, its members face the same threat.

Since Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi was forced from power by the Egyptian military in July 2013, Egypt has worked hard to stifle Hamas influence in the country by undermining all trade from Egypt into Gaza. This is largely seen as payback for supporting Morsi.

Not only is the main legal, aboveground crossing between Egypt and Gaza now closed, but also over 1,200 underground smuggling tunnels into Gaza have been destroyed. This effectively cuts Gaza off from any trade, except the little it can do with Israel.

This ruling will likely push Hamas further into the arms of Turkey and its moderate Arab friends in Qatar. These nations appear to have taken up the slack recently in light of the divorce with Iran.

Hamas’s movement away from Egypt, toward Turkey and Qatar, will not take Trumpet readers by surprise.

Psalm 83 discusses a mysterious alliance whereby the Gazan region—former territory of the ancient Philistines and now occupied by Hamas—allies itself not with Iran and Egypt, but rather with Turkey and the Arabs located in the Gulf states.

Historically, Hamas has received funding, training, weaponry and, most importantly, its leadership from Iran. It has also received weapons and funding through the Muslim Brotherhood. It is no surprise that at the same time we witness the severing of Hamas’s relationship with Egypt, we notice warming relations with Qatar and Turkey.

In fact, the only reason the Gaza Strip has not collapsed is because of the new source of help Hamas has received from Turkey and Qatar.

Qatar is both funding and mediating Hamas’s purchase of goods from Israel through back-channel deals. The Qatari investments will likely total hundreds of millions of dollars this year, according to Al Monitor (March 3). Add to that the hundreds of millions Turkey is channeling to Hamas through private sources, and Hamas remains afloat.

While Hamas might not enjoy being cut off from Egypt, prophecy indicates a severing of that relationship. Continue to watch ties warm between Hamas, the Turks and Hamas’s Arab friends at the expense of its traditional allies, Iran and Egypt.