By Awad Rajoub
RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – Israel has killed 3% of the Gaza Strip’s Christian population since the start of its onslaught last Oct. 7, the Palestinian state minister for foreign affairs and expatriates said on Tuesday.
Varsen Aghabekian Shahin met in Ramallah with a delegation from Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP), including its executive director, Rev. Mae Elise Cannon.
“The Israeli war has resulted in the death of 3% of Gaza’s Christians and the destruction of churches amid restrictions (on Christians) in the West Bank,” Shahin said during the meeting as cited by a Foreign Ministry statement.
According to the state news agency Wafa, there are around 1,200 Christians in the Gaza Strip, home to around 2.3 million population.
At least three churches have been destroyed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since last Oct. 7, Gaza’s government media office estimated.
Shahin voiced her concern over “the threat to the Palestinian Christian presence” and called for international action “to halt the Israeli occupation’s aggression against our people in Gaza and the West Bank.”
She hailed efforts of CMEP “to advocate for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and to pressure the US to stop supplying weapons to Israel,” the statement said.
Rev. Cannon, for his part, underscored the “urgent need for an immediate cease-fire and the cessation of arms supplies to Israel,” it added.
“CMEP is exerting pressure on the US and persistently organizing advocacy campaigns for the Palestinian cause,” Cannon said.
CMEP is a coalition of over 30 churches and organizations striving to influence US policies to foster peace in the Middle East.
Israel has continued its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in the enclave.
More than 35,600 Palestinians have been killed, the vast majority of whom have been women and children, and nearly 79,900 others injured since last October following an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas.
More than seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered it to ensure that its forces do not commit acts of genocide and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
*Writing by Mohammad Sio