What happened
Christians who lived in Gaza say Hamas has reshaped daily life in the territory since seizing control in 2007, using mosques, sermons, and religious instruction to teach residents to view non-Muslims through an Islamic lens. One man, identified as Naji, said Christians were increasingly portrayed as outsiders rather than fellow Gazans, with some people associating them only with the Crusaders or the cross.
Naji said Christians have been abducted and pressured to convert. He described one case in which a man was forced to convert to Islam on live television and later fled to Cyprus.
Another Christian, Ahad, said Christian children faced bullying at school and that churches were sometimes stoned during services. He said Christians in Gaza are told they must accept dhimmi status, which he described as second-class citizenship under Muslim superiority, or they cannot live.
Recent reports cited in the interview indicate Gaza's Christian population has fallen from several thousand to between three and four hundred people amid years of war and extremism. Ahad said the pressure predates the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack and warned that some of the world's oldest Christian communities are disappearing from the Middle East.
