Gaza (MNN) — On Friday, Israel’s security council approved a plan to occupy Gaza City. There was swift international criticism, yet Israeli strikes in Gaza City over the weekend underscored their decision.
A man we’ll call Brother Izik with Global Catalytic Ministries explains the conflict between Israel and Hamas has many background factors that made it volatile. Just one of these factors is the 1917 Balfour Declaration from Britain during World War I. (Read a quick summary of that event here.)
In history and the current realities, Izik says Christians must ground themselves in one fact: “God loves the Jewish people, and God loves Arabs and Palestinians. If we can keep that in our heart, then we will not isolate our hearts to feel like we have to love one and hate the other,” he says.
Hunger is a rising crisis in Gaza — both physical and spiritual. On the physical side, the UN World Food Program says half a million people in Gaza are on the edge of famine.
On the spiritual side, Izik says, “Tragedies ultimately lead to hunger for something deeper. I believe God is exposing Islam to the Palestinian people. There [are] reports coming out that the Palestinian people in Gaza are starting to say, ‘What has Hamas brought us? What has Sharia law, or the Islamic regime brought us?’”
The conflict has a layer of spiritual warfare to it as well. Izik points to a future of blessing promised in Isaiah 19:23-24.
“The enemy wants to fight Jews and Arabs in this region being a blessing [to] the entire earth,” says Izik. “It doesn’t quite look like a blessing right now, but ultimately, when I watch these conflicts, I have that in mind.”
As you consider Israel and Gaza, align your prayers with God’s gospel purposes for Palestinians and Israelis.
“Pray first of all that we won’t be swept away by any propaganda on either side. [Pray instead] that we would be swept to prayer for their salvation and for a hopeful view of God’s promises being fulfilled and ultimately [to] reconcile the world to Himself,” says Izik.
A mosque destroyed in the Jabalia area of the Gaza Strip (Photo courtesy of Jaber Jehad Badwan via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)
Header photo is a stock image courtesy of Chuttersnap via Unsplash.
