Qatar brokered a “humanitarian pause” between Israel and Hamas today. The pause, effective tomorrow, involves Hamas releasing 50 Israeli civilian hostages in exchange for a 150 Palestinians in Israeli prisons. The agreement includes a pause in fighting for four days. Israel also promises extra days in the pause for every 10 extra hostages released. This is the first successful diplomatic agreement between Israel and Hamas since the war began on October 7.

The United States and Egypt also contributed to mediation efforts.

Israel has rejected any lasting ceasefire with Hamas. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated yesterday that “there is a lot of nonsense out there to the effect that after the pause to return our hostages, we will stop the war. Then let me make it clear: We are at war—and will continue the war. We will continue the war until we achieve all of our war aims: to eliminate Hamas, return all of our hostages and our missing, and ensure that there is no element in Gaza that threatens Israel.”

Qatar began reaching out to both sides shortly after the October 7 massacre for a truce. The wealthy Gulf state is notorious for sponsoring foreign terror groups, including Hamas. But it also has informal ties with Israel. For example, when hosting the fifa World Cup last year, Qatar accepted Israeli tourists flying direct from Israel.

Before the war, Qatar gave Gaza supplies worth hundreds of millions of dollars for years. Israel knows Qatari financing is one of the reasons Hamas has become as powerful as it has. It is unlikely Qatari Emir Tamin bin Hamad will become Netanyahu’s friend anytime soon. But as the war drags on, Qatar is becoming one of the few outside parties both sides are willing to listen to. Israel’s end goal is to remove Hamas from Gaza. Once this happens, Israel may let Qatar step back in to reconstruct the territory.

Psalm 83 lists several Middle Eastern peoples coalescing to “cut [Israel] off from being a nation” (verse 4). The list includes: “the tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes; Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre” (verses 6-7).

Such an alliance has never been recorded in history. This psalm is a prophecy of future events. But it makes little sense unless one knows the modern identities of these ancient peoples.

Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry writes in The King of the South:

You must know who the modern descendants of these peoples are to understand just how timely and relevant this prophecy is. Here are the modern names of these nations, as taught at Ambassador College under Herbert W. Armstrong: The Ishmaelites are Saudi Arabia; Moab and Ammon both refer to Jordan; the Hagarenes anciently dwelled in the land known as Syria today; the Philistines are the modern Palestinian Arabs; Gebal and Tyre are Lebanon. We cannot be extremely precise in this understanding, but it gives a good general idea. …

The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and the other Gulf states are geographically attached to the eastern part of the huge land mass of Saudi Arabia. We believe they are also Ishmaelites and from a biblical perspective, regardless of their modern boundaries, would be considered a part of Saudi Arabia.

Israel is more and more looking to Arab states like Qatar for help with the situation in Gaza. But Bible prophecy reveals this to be a backstab in the making. The “moderate” Arab world is prophesied to join forces with radical Palestinian groups against Israel. To learn more, request a free copy of The King of the South.