Israeli air strikes killed three senior members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (pij) terrorist group yesterday morning in the Gaza Strip. All three were linked with the al-Quds Brigades (aqb), pij’s armed wing. Those killed were:

• Khalil al-Bahtini, secretary of aqb’s military council
• Jihad al-Ghanam, aqb’s leader for its “northern region”
• Tarq Izz ad-Din, aqb’s leader in the West Bank

According to the Palestinian Authority’s Health Ministry, 10 others died in the strikes, including family members of the three terrorists.

pij promised vengeance. Today, two pij gunmen opened fire on Israeli soldiers at the West Bank city of Qabatiya. Both gunmen were neutralized. Israel is bracing for potential rocket attacks. The Israel Defense Forces reportedly struck a Gaza rocket launch site.

Hamas, Gaza’s ruling terrorist group, appears to be sitting on the sidelines for now. But it promised a unified response from Gaza’s terrorist groups that will “teach [Israel] a major lesson.” Both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are Iranian proxy groups.

Ceasefire over: This follows a brief skirmish between pij and Israel last week. Khader Adnan, a prominent leader of the group, died in an Israeli prison on May 2 after an 87-day hunger strike. pij responded by sending over 100 rockets into Israeli territory. Israel retaliated with strikes of its own. Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations mediated a ceasefire less than 24 hours later. But that ceasefire is apparently over.

Where will the violence end? Clashes between Israel and Palestinian terrorist groups are nothing new. But the Bible prophesies that, in the near future, such a clash will escalate far outside of the region. Zechariah 14:1-2 discuss the “day of the Lord,” a time of worldwide calamity just before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Verse 2 specifies a major event that will lead into the Day of the Lord: “half of the city [Jerusalem] shall go forth into captivity.”

Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry writes in his booklet Jerusalem in Prophecy:

Today the Arabs live in roughly one half of Jerusalem. They just don’t control it—yet. When such an attack occurs, the Jews couldn’t effectively drop bombs, especially nuclear bombs, on one half of their own city.

Looking at the ongoing violence in Jerusalem today—the absolute inability of the involved parties to solve things by peaceful means—we can easily see how one half of Jerusalem shall be taken captive in the very near future. The present violence is an embryo that is about to explode into much greater violence. That is the critical event prophesied in Zechariah 14:2.

Much has to happen before this prophesied “captivity” starts. But the current tensions with the Palestinians point to the fulfillment of Zechariah 14 as being on the horizon.

To learn more, request a free copy of Jerusalem in Prophecy.