Gazan Christians reveals horrors amid crackdown under Hamas rule: 'You cannot forget about us'

A Gazan Christian reflected on how life changed after Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, as recent reports indicate that the region's Christian community has dwindled to just a few hundred people.

In an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, Naji, who grew up as a Christian in Gaza but has since left, described how Hamas reshaped life in the region after taking control.

"They completely restructured how everyday Gazans thought. They pushed a whole new set of ideas through mosques, teachings, periodic sermons, and structured religious circles,” Naji explained. 

Hamas' teachings influenced how some Gazans viewed non-Muslims, including Christians, whom he said were categorized as dhimmi, a historical Islamic term for non-Muslims living under Muslim rule who are granted protection in exchange for accepting a subordinate legal status. The status traditionally applied to “People of the Book,” the Quranic term for Jews and Christians.

“According to the Quran, they consider them 'People of the Book,' infidels, destined to go to Hell," he added. 

Naji told CBN that Christians were increasingly regarded as outsiders, and that many associated them with the Crusades or believed they worshipped the cross. 

“They didn't grasp that we were Gazans just like them or fellow citizens of Gaza City,” he told CBN. “But no, for them, we're merely guests.”

Naji also recalled instances in which Christians were abducted, including one man who fled to Cyprus after facing pressure to convert to Islam during a televised appearance. According to Naji, the man did not want to convert but was subjected to intense pressure.

The accounts come as Gaza's Christian population has experienced a dramatic decline. CBN noted that recent reports reveal that Gaza's Christian population had fallen from several thousand to between 300 and 400 people, citing years of war and extremism.

Another Christian interviewed by CBN, identified as Ahad, described bullying directed at Christians and said churches were sometimes attacked with stones during worship services.

Ahad, who grew up in Syria, emphasized that the challenges facing Christians in the region predated Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel. Asked whether Christians were expected to accept second-class status under Islamic rule, he said they faced pressure to acknowledge Muslim superiority or leave.

“You're either a dhimmi, a second-class citizen that you accept being, that the Muslim is superior to you, or you cannot live. They tell us, they tell us in our faces,” Ahad said. 

He urged Christians in Western countries not to overlook the dwindling Christian presence in the Middle East, where Christianity originated, warning that the region could eventually lose its remaining Christian communities.

“Listen to us,” Ahad pleaded. "We exist over there. ... Our ancestors are the ones who brought Christianity to the whole world. And because of the sacrifice of the early Christian martyrs, Christianity became very well known all over the world and spread the Word of God all over the world,” he added. “You cannot forget about us."

A report published in December 2024 by the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs similarly documented a steep decline in the Christian population in areas governed by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.

The Jerusalem Center’s study cited anti-Christian violence and discrimination as some of the primary drivers pushing Christians to leave their communities.

According to the report, Christians constituted 11% of the population of geographical Palestine in 1922, declining to 8% by 1946.

“In 1967, Christians in Judea and Samaria were 6% of the population. In 1997 they constituted 1.5% of the Palestinian population, in 2007 — 1.2%, and in 2017 — 1%,” the researchers stated.

The report also highlighted the dramatic demographic changes in Bethlehem. 

“In 1950, Bethlehem and the surrounding villages were 86% Christian. By 2017, Bethlehem’s Christian population had dwindled to 10%,” the report continued. “The mass exodus of the Christians risks undermining the survival of Christianity in its birthplace.” 

The study further found that Gaza's Christian population declined from approximately 5,000 people before Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 to just 1,000 by October 2023.