Gaza’s Christian Community Shrinks Under Hamas Rule, Interview Recounts

More than 4,000 Christian Arabs lived in Gaza before Hamas came to power in the Gaza Strip, according to the report. Only a few hundred remain. The source describes Christians there as targets of harm from both Hamas and extremist Salafists, and says that most have fled from a community it puts at 4,200 people.

Kemal Therezi, who was interviewed for the report, said he left Gaza about four months ago after living there until recently. He described the community’s situation in terms of curses, isolation, and daily violence. He said that Hamas members took over his house and turned it into a bakery.

Therezi said that he had been held in several prisons and described the Hamas prisons as places of beatings and psychological torture. He said that harm to Christians in Gaza has become commonplace and does not stop even during wartime. The report notes that Gaza has been closed for 12 years and that it is difficult to know what is happening beyond its fences, so Therezi’s account is presented as his own testimony.

“We, Christians, are not bystanders in Palestine, we are two thousand years in Palestine, we are not guests,” Therezi said. He also said that Christian residents, churches, and Christian institutions and associations are harassed and harmed.

Therezi also described constant anger and fatigue among local residents, including those who are not Christians. He said this frustration could develop into social unrest. In his view, the strain comes not only from the Strip’s difficult economy but also from demonstrations at the fence and the casualties that accompany them.

Therezi said that Hamas rule as it exists today will not last much longer in the Gaza Strip, though he added that this may be only wishful thinking. He said he cannot return. “I cannot go back to Gaza, hanging against me there a death sentence,” he said.

Source: Read the original report (translated from Hebrew)