Just 1½ years after Israel’s Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, the terrorist group Hamas has officially restocked its arsenal.

The Times of Israel cited the assessment of unnamed Israeli officials who believe that Hamas has the same number of rockets today as it had in June 2014.

Back in 2014 at the beginning of the war, Hamas had an estimated 12,000 rockets ranging from long-range missiles capable of targeting Jerusalem to the mortars that ravaged the immediate towns and villages that border the Gaza Strip.

The speed at which Hamas has replenished its stock is worth noting. During the 50-day war, 4,600 rockets made landfall. Another 4,000 were knocked out of the sky by Israel’s Iron Dome antimissile system. Thus a rough total of 8,600 mortars and missiles were fired by Hamas. If Israeli officials are correct, this means that since the end of the war Hamas has produced about 16 rockets per day.

But the numbers could easily be higher.

Despite a crackdown by Egypt, Hamas has been working to reestablish its tunnel networks. The tunnels allow for the black-market trade of goods to the people of Gaza. This can mean anything from microwaves to missiles. Just three years ago there were close to 700 tunnels established. Now there are assumed to be close to a dozen. Those tunnels can still allow the transport of missiles.

That handful of tunnels has become an important lifeline to Hamas’s military activities in the Sinai Peninsula. The Islamic State in the Sinai has been strengthening ties with Hamas’s militant wing in recent months. A small number of Hamas troops have managed to cross the border to fight alongside the Islamic State affiliate. Wounded Islamic State fighters have also sought refuge in the Gaza Strip by way of one of the last operating tunnels that exist along Gaza’s southernmost border.

Hamas gives aid and training to the Islamic State in the Sinai in return for help with its smuggling operations. The Islamic State also acts as a thorn in the side of the Egyptian Army, which in recent months has conducted extensive operations to shut down Hamas’s smuggling routes.

Hamas and its sponsors have historically used the strip as a highway for weaponry. On March 5, 2014, Israel intercepted a weapons shipment from Iran that was destined for the Gaza Strip. While that shipment was stopped, other missiles have evidently made the trip. During Operation Protective Edge, Iranian-made Fajr-5 missiles were launched repeatedly at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

The Sinai tunnels aren’t the only way into Gaza. Smuggling also happens at the checkpoints. In February, Israeli security intercepted a shipment of drones hidden among children’s toys.

The tunnels and hidden packages in aid convoys show that Hamas is capable of gaining access to advanced weaponry from outside sources. Limited resources and abilities within the strip have led experts to suggest that while the arsenal may be restocked, it is of inferior quality to the stock before Operation Protective Edge. But with a porous and unstable Sinai, the opportunity rises for more powerful weapons to slip through undetected.

With this restocked arsenal, Hamas looks ready to wage a new war against Israel. Only this time, Hamas will have a larger arsenal and the experience it has garnered since Operation Protective Edge.

Israel is surrounded by well-stocked, well-armed enemies. While many like Hezbollah, Syria and Saudi Arabia are currently embroiled in their own wars and proxy wars, the time is coming when these armies and armaments will be turned again against their historic enemy, the nation of Israel. Find that hard to believe? Read our booklet Jerusalem in Prophecy.

This booklet highlights prophecies recorded for our time that show how Hamas and the Palestinians provoke a deadly “wound” for Israel in this end time.

For more on Hamas’s specific role in the fulfillment of prophecy, be sure to read columnist Brad Macdonald’s article “Hamas Fulfills Bible Prophecy.”