SHAFAQNA- Gaza’s Christians hold ‘baptism under fire’ with fears Palestinian children will not survive Israel’s onslaught.
The New Arab spoke with a Palestinian Christian in Gaza whose daughter was baptised along with nine other new-born in a collective baptism ceremony driven by the fear that the children may not survive Israel’s onslaught.
A collective baptism has been organised for new-born babies in the besieged Gaza Strip this week, driven by a fear for Christian Palestinian families that their children may not survive Israel’s relentless bombardment that began on 7 October.
Families, who took refuge in two churches in Gaza, want to make sure their children are baptised before they die, according to Evangelical Lutheran Pastor Munther Isaac.
The pastor, based in the West Bank, said that the move was a sign of accepting “inevitable death” as a result of Israel’s brutal onslaught, which has so far killed over 8,500 Palestinians, including over 3,500 children.
The New Arab spoke with a Palestinian Christian father, who used the pseudonym Fadi to protect his identity, and whose daughter was baptised in a collective ceremony.
“We initially came to the church because we thought that dying with people who are close to us is a form of mercy. We were asked to leave to the south, but we are a small community of 900 people, and we don’t know where to go in the south,” he told The New Arab.
The Christian population in Gaza has declined significantly over the years. In 2007, there were around 7,000 Palestinian Christians, but following a mass exodus amid a brutal Israeli siege, less than 1,000 now remain.
On 20 October, an Israeli strike on the compound of the Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius killed at least 18 Palestinian civilians sheltering inside it, wounding dozens more.
Source: newarab