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[[Image:Gazastrip91.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Gaza Strip]]
[[Image:Gazastrip91.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Gaza Strip]]
The '''Gaza Strip''' is a narrow [[coast]]al strip of land that runs along the [[Mediterranean Sea]]. With a population of 2.2 million, mostly Arabs (called "Palestinians"), in an area of only 141 square miles, it is one of the most densely populated areas in the world and has been littered with refugee camps. The strip takes its name from [[Gaza City|Gaza, the main city]].
The '''Gaza Strip''', often referred to simply as "Gaza", is a narrow [[coast]]al strip of land that runs along the [[Mediterranean Sea]]. With a population of 2.2 million, of whom 90% are Palestinian Arabs, in an area of only 141 square miles, it is one of the most densely populated areas in the world and has been littered with refugee camps. The strip takes its name from [[Gaza City|Gaza, the main city]].
"When its footprint is overlaid onto [[New York City]], it covers an area roughly the size of [[Manhattan]], the [[Bronx]] and [[Hoboken]], [[New Jersey]], combined."<ref>https://www.newsweek.com/gaza-strip-size-us-cities-maps-1833863</ref>
"When its footprint is overlaid onto [[New York City]], it covers an area roughly the size of [[Manhattan]], the [[Bronx]] and [[Hoboken]], [[New Jersey]], combined."<ref>https://www.newsweek.com/gaza-strip-size-us-cities-maps-1833863</ref>
The Gaza Strip is one of two predominantly Palestinian territories, the other being the [[West Bank]], which have been controlled by [[Israel]] as a result of the [[Six-Day War]] in 1967 until the [[Oslo Accords]] of 1993-95. In 2005 Israel took out all the remaining soldiers on the strip, but after the start of the [[Oct 7 War]] who controls Gaza today is disputed, as Hamas still has control over it.
==History==
==History==
[[History|Historically]] the Gaza Strip was part of the land controlled by ancient [[Israel]] after the removal of the [[Philistines]]. An Islamic area since the Islamic conquest of the 7th century, it was controlled by the British after [[World War I]] and was to be a part of an independent "Palestinian" state in 1948 based upon a UN partition, but the first Arab-Israeli War saw Israel take most of the region that would have made the Arab state and Egypt absorbed the Gaza Strip, which overflowed with refugees from the war. In 1967 Israel overran the area in the [[Six Day War]] and administered the region. They built settlements, but these never attracted many people and only 10,000 Israelis lived there by 2005 among the Arab residents. The Israeli government withdrew, with strong objections from the settlers, leaving the area under the control of the [[Palestinian Authority]]. In 2007, [[Hamas]] overran the Palestinian Authority and took ''de facto'' control for themselves.
[[History|Historically]] the Gaza Strip was part of the land controlled by ancient [[Israel]] after the removal of the [[Philistines]]. An Islamic area since the Islamic conquest of the 7th century, it was controlled by the British after [[World War I]] and was to be a part of an independent "Palestinian" state in 1948 based upon a UN partition, but the first Arab-Israeli War saw Israel take most of the region that would have made the Arab state and Egypt absorbed the Gaza Strip, which overflowed with refugees from the war. In 1967 Israel overran the area in the [[Six Day War]] and administered the region. They built settlements, but these never attracted many people and only 10,000 Israelis lived there by 2005 among the Arab residents. The Israeli government withdrew, with strong objections from the settlers, leaving the area under the control of the [[Palestinian Authority]]. In 2007, [[Hamas]] overran the Palestinian Authority and took ''de facto'' control for themselves.
==Christians in Gaza Strip==
{{Main article|Palestinian Authority#Christian minority}}
[[File:Orthodox Christians in Gaza Strip.jpg|thumbnail|[[Greek Orthodox|Greek Orthodox]] [[Christians]] in the Gaza Strip.]]
[[File:Catholic Church in Gaza.jpg|thumbnail|Maronite Catholic Church in [[Gaza City|Gaza]] which has direct line with the [[Pope]].]]
The Arab Palestinians are roughly 94% Muslim. 89% of Christians in Gaza are [[Greek Orthodox]] while 9.3% are [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]] and 1.52% belongs to other denominations.<ref name=GreekReporter>{{cite web|url=https://greekreporter.com/2014/08/11/struggling-christian-minority-in-gaza/|title=Struggling Christian Minority In Gaza|date=August 11, 2014|publisher=Greek Reporter}}</ref> [[Pope Francis]] affirmed in 2024 that he calls the "church in Gaza every day".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240523-pope-francis-i-call-the-church-in-gaza-every-day/|title=Pope Francis: ‘I call the church in Gaza every day’|date=May 23, 2024|publisher=Middle East Monitor}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.foxnews.com/world/pope-francis-contacts-only-catholic-church-gaza-carnage-continues|title=Pope Francis contacts only Catholic Church in Gaza as carnage continues|date=October 10, 2023|publisher=Fox News}}</ref>
The Gaza Strip is currently under the control of [[Hamas]], an Islamic terrorist organization. Christians face persecution and pressure to convert and have next to no rights<ref>http://www.opendoorsuk.org/persecution/worldwatch/palestinian_territories.php</ref> however they have managed to coexist with/under Muslims as they share the struggle. When [[Mar Mari Emmanuel]] visited the Gaza Strip (years before 2023) he got along with the people there, even with Muslims.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADINB5AJYLM I WENT TO GAZA STRIP AND THIS IS WHAT I FOUND - theChristianCommunity]</ref> Some work in Israel as thousands flock to enter Israel for work.<ref>''Al-Monitor''. "Thousands of Gazans flock to get work permits in Israel." Oct 8, 2021. [https://archive.md/PLAZd/485a0bdae2911a8e4bb6c1ef05b3b7c07d2bd9e6.jpg]<blockquote><small>Thousands of unemployed Gazans are flocking to the offices of the Chambers of Commerce to submit their papers to obtain a permit to work inside Israel, following reports that Israel has agreed to grant 2,600 commercial permits to Gaza residents. </small></blockquote>
Gera. Gershon. Belik.
X · gershon27 ([https://web.archive.org/web/20220610091150/https://twitter.com/gershon27/status/1535187804904476672 June 10, 2022]):<blockquote><small>
This Arab man from Gaza shows how bad Hamas has made life in Gaza. He works for 12 hours non-stop and only gets 20 shekels ($6) for the entire day. Then people wonder why so many Gazans flock to Israel for work as they get paid decently here.</small></blockquote>
Arab MK advocate for 'citizens law' for more Palestinians to becomes Israeli...
Meir Asraf (@ pSn7rhTfRb7rLxh) Tweeted ([https://web.archive.org/web/2022011...Lxh/status/1408030138676170754?s=20 June 24, 2021]):<blockquote><small> @mennyassyag Citizenship Law... Unification of Families Gaza residents are flocking to the... state.</small></blockquote></ref>
(<small>Despite Gazans in general being under blockade from [[Egypt]] and Israel due to security<ref>''NPR'', Oct 10, 2023.
"What is the Gaza Strip?" [https://archive.md/X1AFt/0918f3b681bfd2cdd961e853500692d2776b6c36.jpg]
<blockquote><small>The strip has been under a blockade by Israel and Egypt...</small></blockquote></ref>)</small>.
There are three churches in Gaza: Catholic, Greek Orthodox, the Near East Council of Churches, Myrrh Bearers Society, the Orthodox Council of Churches and Baptist. Also the Ahli Arab Hospital is Christian.<ref name=GreekReporter/>
<ref>http://www.worldmag.com/2010/04/tested_by_fire</ref><ref>http://www.explorecorps.org/Reports_From_The_Field/Entries/2009/2/15_Gazas_Church_of_Saint_Porphyrius.html</ref>
<ref>http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=25263</ref>
At least since 2012, Gaza Christians sense pressure to convert to Islam
<ref>Nidal al-Mughrabi, "[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-palestinians-christians-conversion-idUSBRE86P0J420120726 Gaza Christians sense pressure to convert to Islam]", Reuters, July 26, 2012</ref>
2019 report cited "Islamic oppression" as the main source of persecution at Christian small minority of Arab Palestinians.<ref name=jp25dec2019>[https://www.jpost.com/opinion/the-christian-crisis-612032 A Christian crisis in Gaza and the West Bank], The Jerusalem Post, Dec 25, 2019.
<br><i>
In the Gaza Strip, the Christian population has plummeted from about 3,000 a decade ago to an estimated 1,000 today, most of them Greek Orthodox.
</i>
<blockquote> ...
“Though the Christians in the PA avoid saying so publicly, many of them fear – with good reason – that Muslim aggression against them will only escalate,” wrote Edy Cohen, a researcher at the center. “Such fears are all the stronger in light of the thunderous silence of the Western [and Israeli] media, in the face of the Christian minority’s ongoing disappearance from the PA and Islamic lands in general.”
He added, pointedly, that “the ongoing international neglect of the plight of the Christians under PA rule can only lead to the vanishing of Christianity from the place where it emerged.”
In the Gaza Strip, the Christian population has plummeted from about 3,000 a decade ago to an estimated 1,000 today, most of them Greek Orthodox...
The situation of Christians in Bethlehem has deteriorated dramatically in the last century, and especially since the PA took control of the city in 1995. In 1947, Christians comprised about 85% of the city’s population, but that figure had plunged to 16% by 2016, and is estimated since then.
Bethlehem’s mayor at the time said that, “Due to the stress – either physical or psychological – and the bad economic situation, many people are emigrating: either Christians or Muslims, but it is more apparent among Christians because they already are a minority.”
A study by the Pew Research Center found that the decline in the Arab Christian population was both a result of a lower birth rate among Christians compared to Muslims and the fact that Christians were more likely to emigrate than any other religious group. A statistical analysis of the Christian exodus cited a lack of economic and educational opportunities among a community known for its middle-class status and higher education.</blockquote/></ref>
Since the 2007 Israel blockade of Gaza, Christians have not being able to visit Holy Sites in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, having the same struggle as other Gaza inhabitants. This has led many to hold extreme positions "which does not differentiate between race and religion", warns a report from the Young Men’s Christian Association.<ref name=GreekReporter/>
Palestinian Christians in Gaza fear for the future of their tiny community.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.foxnews.com/world/gaza-christians-fear-for-future-of-tiny-community|title=Gaza Christians fear for future of tiny community|date=July 25, 2012|publisher=Fox News}}</ref> This sentiment of fear of disappearing grew after the Israel-Gaza War that started in 2023.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2023-10/interview-with-custos-of-the-holy-land-fr-francesco-patton-ofm.html|title=Holy Land Custos: Fear is growing that Gaza's Christians will disappear|date=October 10, 2023|publisher=Vatican News}}</ref>
== Hostilities in late 2008-present ==
== Hostilities in late 2008-present ==
Terrorists are still attacking Israel from the Gaza strip with missiles. In response to this, Israel is bombarding the strip in order to prevent more threats to its population on the border. On January 3, 2009 Israel has started a ground campaign in Gaza. It was preceded by an artillery barrage to soften the border so Israeli troops could cross safer. The campaign was against Hamas targets and Israel never had any plans to reoccupy the land. Hamas, rather than stop firing rockets into Gaza has begun sabre rattling and stated that they will kidnap and kill invading Israeli soldiers and cause mental illness from the horrors they will bring them. They have also stated that they will begin suicide attacks again.[https://www.onenewsnow.com/Headlines/Default.aspx?id=372854]
Terrorists are still attacking Israel from the Gaza strip with missiles. In response to this, Israel is bombarding the strip in order to prevent more threats to its population on the border. On January 3, 2009 Israel has started a ground campaign in Gaza. It was preceded by an artillery barrage to soften the border so Israeli troops could cross safer. The campaign was against Hamas targets and Israel never had any plans to reoccupy the land. Hamas, rather than stop firing rockets into Gaza has begun sabre rattling and stated that they will kidnap and kill invading Israeli soldiers and cause mental illness from the horrors they will bring them. They have also stated that they will begin suicide attacks again.[https://www.onenewsnow.com/Headlines/Default.aspx?id=372854]
==Today==
==Today==
A very poor and desolate area, the residents of the area live in poverty and squalor, mainly due to the control of their daily lives by Hamas. The Strip is not self-sufficient and counts on outside aid, but Hamas takes most foreign aid for itself to manufacture more bombs and rockets. There is continued friction with Israel with home made rockets being fired by the Gaza residents and occasional open fighting. Hamas does not recognize Israel's right to exist. The Strip has been the source of many suicide missions against Israel as well Kasam rocket fire against the settlements and towns of southern Israel.
A very poor and desolate area, the residents of the area live in poverty and squalor due to the control of their daily lives by Hamas and blockades enforced by Israel and Egypt. The Strip is not self-sufficient and counts on outside aid, but Hamas takes most foreign aid for itself to manufacture more bombs and rockets. There is continued friction with Israel with home made rockets being fired by the Gaza residents and occasional open fighting. Hamas does not recognize Israel's right to exist. The Strip has been the source of many suicide missions against Israel as well Kasam rocket fire against the settlements and towns of southern Israel.
Israel controls the Gaza strip’s airspace and offshore maritime access, in order to prevent more materials being given to Hamas terrorists.
Israel controls the Gaza strip’s airspace and offshore maritime access, in order to prevent more materials being given to Hamas terrorists.
*[[Israel_Apartheid_slur#Current_racist_Arab-Palestine_and_in_the_region|Current racist Arab-Palestine]]
*[[Israel_Apartheid_slur#Current_racist_Arab-Palestine_and_in_the_region|Current racist Arab-Palestine]]
==Christians in Gaza Strip==
==Bigotry==
[[File:Hamas' Yahya Sinwar's interrogator, recalls his hatred, Mein Kampf distribution among young kids.jpg|thumb|Hamas' Yahya Sinwar's interrogator, recalls his hatred, Mein Kampf distribution among young kids.]]
Hamas' Yahya Sinwar's interrogator, recalls:<ref>[https://jewishjournal.com/community/367977/micha-koubi-former-idf-special-forces-member-lectures-on-hamas/ Micha Koubi, Former IDF Special Forces Member, Lectures on Hamas]. ''Jewish Journal'', Feb 8, 2024.
<blockquote><small>Micha Koubi, a former Shabak (Israel Security Agency) member, provided insights into Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas and the mastermind of the Oct. 7 massacre.... This man was completely emotionless, a brutal killer. I called him a Nazi and told everyone possible that this organization must be eliminated, but they didn’t listen to me. We found many ‘Mein Kampf’ books in his house as well as rubber knives. He was in charge of education in Gaza and would distribute them in day care to two-year-olds, where they would hold a competition over who would kill more Jews. By the age of four, they would receive wooden guns. Later, when they grew up to be teenagers, he would train them to shoot rifles and teach them how to be martyrs. The same children he trained are the killers of the Nakba today.”</small></blockquote></ref>
<blockquote>This man was completely emotionless, a brutal killer. I called him a Nazi and told everyone possible that this organization must be eliminated, but they didn’t listen to me. We found many ‘Mein Kampf’ books in his house as well as rubber knives. He was in charge of education in Gaza and would distribute them in day care to two-year-olds, where they would hold a competition over who would kill more Jews. By the age of four, they would receive wooden guns. Later, when they grew up to be teenagers, he would train them to shoot rifles and teach them how to be martyrs. The same children he trained are the killers of the Nakba today.”</blockquote>
A 2011 survey found, 73% of Palestinians in W. Bank, Gaza agree (today in age, "realistically") with 'hadith' quoted in Hamas Charter about the need to kill Jews hiding behind stones, trees. And 53% were in favor or teaching songs about hating Jews in Palestinian schools.<ref>Gil Stern Hoffman, [https://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/6-in-10-Palestinians-reject-2-state-solution-survey-finds 6 in 10 Palestinians reject 2-state solution, survey finds], JPost, July 15, 2011.
A 2011 survey found, 73% of Palestinians in W. Bank, Gaza agree (today in age, "realistically") with 'hadith' quoted in Hamas Charter about the need to kill Jews hiding behind stones, trees. And 53% were in favor or teaching songs about hating Jews in Palestinian schools.<ref>Gil Stern Hoffman, [https://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/6-in-10-Palestinians-reject-2-state-solution-survey-finds 6 in 10 Palestinians reject 2-state solution, survey finds], JPost, July 15, 2011.
Oct 7, 2023 atrocities, the thousands of "Palestinian" Arab barbarian (Hamas/PIJ, PFLP & ordinary Gazans) onslaught on southern Israel - under Allah Akbar cries: massacring youth at a festival, torching families alive at their homes, suffocating shelters with people in them, mass torture, mass rape - some even post mortem - all while laughing, slaughtering children in front of their parents - parents in front of their children, beheading babies, dismembering bodies, kidnapping kids, men women into Gaza while parading them to cheers of other racist Arab masses.
Oct 7, 2023 atrocities, the thousands of "Palestinian" Arab barbarian (Hamas/PIJ, PFLP & ordinary Gazans) onslaught on southern Israel - under Allah Akbar cries: massacring youth at a festival, torching families alive at their homes, suffocating shelters with people in them, mass torture, mass rape - some even post mortem - all while laughing, slaughtering children in front of their parents - parents in front of their children, beheading babies, dismembering bodies, kidnapping kids, men women into Gaza while parading them to cheers of other racist Arab masses.
It led to operation [[Swords of Iron]].
It led to operation [[Swords of Iron]].
*Racist song popular in Gaza - "The song we were raised on - Palestine is our country and the Jews are our dogs." Little children taught and recite with "pride." (Gazan posted on social media in 2024).
<ref>Imshin Replying to @imshin ([https://twitter.com/imshin/status/1768270762778010066 Mar 14, 2024]):<blockquote><small>
It's popular.
"The song we were raised on - Palestine is our country and the Jews are our dogs"
#TheGazaYouDontSee .
[https://pbs.twimg.com/ext_tw_video_thumb/1768270735984754688/pu/img/irzAcsPtomK1LldE?format=jpg&name=large]</blockquote></small></ref>
*''''What all Arab Muslim "Palestinian" children in Gaza are taught.'''
Dor Shachar,<ref>[https://archive.ph/1RGcH 'You’ll see chaos': Gazan-born Jewish convert warns West of Islamist ideology].
Dor Shachar, who watched Hamas rise from the inside, says they are reflective of the culture that elected them. ‘The majority chose Hamas’.' "National Post'', Feb 7, 2026.
“I wanted to be a Jew because I chose life, I chose love and not hatred,” says Dor Shachar, who was born Ayman Abu Soobuch, a Muslim in Gaza.
"Every child learned how to throw stones at Jews because they teach it. The teacher would tell us to go out and throw stones...
Between Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Qassam Brigades, and any other terror group, and most Palestinians in Gaza, they share the same ideas about Jews."
[https://x.com/rheytah/status/2020209356495622486 Rita Rosenfeld @rheytah]:
Feb 7, 2026.
{{Cquote|As a boy in Khan Younis, [Dor] Shachar’s earliest lessons about Jews came from his own grandfather. The older man would invite Jewish visitors for coffee and bread, yet in a different breath urged his grandson to “free the land” one day, by killing Jews.
“I said to myself, ‘how can it be? On one side he invites them for food and drink, and on the other he says to kill them.’ From a young age I understood something is wrong.”
His neighbours included names that would later become synonymous with terror: Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and bombmaker Yahya Ayyash. “I knew them well,” he recalled, describing them as “community faces” alongside others from Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Fatah and the PLO. He knew that some neighbours — and his own brothers — had killed Israelis.
In the open market, he says he once saw Sinwar sever the head of a Palestinian accused of collaborating with Israel, amid cheering onlookers. Another time, he and his mother found a head in the market street. “They said he was suspected of cooperating with Israel,” he noted. Bystanders were nonchalant, as he remembers it.
He recalled children’s television shows that preached “‘go and kill the Jews.’” In mosques, he recalled sheikhs shouting that killing Jews was “the greatest commandment” and “Allah’s will.”
Schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees ('''UNRWA''') were little different: Jews were “pigs, dogs and infidels” who did not deserve to live, and children were told Israelis had one eye in the forehead, or three legs.
“But I knew the soldiers, and they’d given me candy sometimes. They don’t have one eye in the forehead — they aren’t like that. The Jews who came to the market in Khan Yunis to give us food aid didn’t have one eye in the forehead. The Jews who came to the weddings of our neighbours didn’t have three legs or an eye in the forehead.”
Inculcating violence was part of the curriculum. “Every child learned how to throw stones at Jews because they teach it. The teacher would tell us to go out and throw stones; then come back and open books as though we were studying. When the soldiers came, they saw little children studying. After the soldiers left, the teachers laughed — ‘these pigs, these dogs, these betrayers, these Jews, we will slaughter them like Hitler did.’”
Dave Gordon, National Post.
Feb 7, 2026.}}</ref> who watched Hamas rise from the inside, says they are reflective of the culture that elected them. ‘The majority chose Hamas’.
“I wanted to be a Jew because I chose life, I chose love and not hatred,” says Dor Shachar, who was born Ayman Abu Soobuch, a Muslim in Gaza.
'Every child learned how to throw stones at Jews because they teach it. The teacher would tell us to go out and throw stones.
Between Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Qassam Brigades, and any other terror group, and most Palestinians in Gaza, they share the same ideas about Jews.'
<blockquote>
As a boy in Khan Younis, [Dor] Shachar’s earliest lessons about Jews came from his own grandfather. The older man would invite Jewish visitors for coffee and bread, yet in a different breath urged his grandson to “free the land” one day, by killing Jews.
“I said to myself, ‘how can it be? On one side he invites them for food and drink, and on the other he says to kill them.’ From a young age I understood something is wrong.”
His neighbours included names that would later become synonymous with terror: Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and bombmaker Yahya Ayyash. “I knew them well,” he recalled, describing them as “community faces” alongside others from Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Fatah and the PLO. He knew that some neighbours — and his own brothers — had killed Israelis.
In the open market, he says he once saw Sinwar sever the head of a Palestinian accused of collaborating with Israel, amid cheering onlookers. Another time, he and his mother found a head in the market street. “They said he was suspected of cooperating with Israel,” he noted. Bystanders were nonchalant, as he remembers it.
He recalled children’s television shows that preached “‘go and kill the Jews.’” In mosques, he recalled sheikhs shouting that killing Jews was “the greatest commandment” and “Allah’s will.”
Schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees ([[UNRWA]]) were little different: Jews were “pigs, dogs and infidels” who did not deserve to live, and children were told Israelis had one eye in the forehead, or three legs.
“But I knew the soldiers, and they’d given me candy sometimes. They don’t have one eye in the forehead — they aren’t like that. The Jews who came to the market in Khan Yunis to give us food aid didn’t have one eye in the forehead. The Jews who came to the weddings of our neighbours didn’t have three legs or an eye in the forehead.”
Inculcating violence was part of the curriculum. “Every child learned how to throw stones at Jews because they teach it. The teacher would tell us to go out and throw stones; then come back and open books as though we were studying. When the soldiers came, they saw little children studying. After the soldiers left, the teachers laughed — ‘these pigs, these dogs, these betrayers, these Jews, '''we will slaughter them like Hitler did'''.’”</blockquote>
==Anti American==
==Anti American==
==See also==
==See also==
[[Suicide bomber: a personal account]]
*[[West Bank]]
*[[Palestinian Authority]]
*[[Suicide bomber: a personal account]]
==External links==
==External links==