Christian Community Fears Extinction as Israel’s ‘Genocide’ Continues

WEST BANK (KI) – Palestinian Christians are concerned their community is facing the threat of extermination in Gaza as the Zionist regime has bombarded the enclave continuously since the start of the war on 7 October.

The Zionist regime’s military has killed over 20,000 Palestinians, mostly children and women, over the past nearly three months of ferocious air strikes and ground operations.
In the process, residential towers, places of worship and schools have been razed by air strikes while Israel has also cut off all fuel, water, food and electricity supplies for the besieged strip since 9 October.
As attacks intensify on churches in Gaza, where many Christians are sheltering, the community have expressed fears over their future existence.
“We’re one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, and we face the threat of extinction,” Hammam Farah, a Palestinian Christian living in Canada, who has lost several relatives in the current bombing campaign, told Middle East Eye.
According to Farah, before the Zionist regime’s siege and blockade in Gaza started in 2007, there were around 3,000 Christians. The number dwindled to around 1,000 as people left due to the inhumane conditions as a result of the blockade and stayed steady over the years.
However, since 7 October, the number has dropped to 800, with more feared dead as the death toll rises every day.
Christians have been seeking refuge in churches throughout the constant bombardment, including in the historic St Porphyrius church which was bombed on 19 October.
Farah says he has lost many family members in the occupying regime’s current “genocidal campaign” which has forced Christians to evacuate their homes and head to churches.