The body of Rami Khader Ayyad, who was in his early 30s, was found in Gaza City on Sunday, October 7, shortly after he was abducted Saturday, October 6, and apparently shot and stepped to death. Ayyad’s wife Pauline, pregnant with their third child, fell limp, screaming his name during Sunday’s funeral service held in a packed church. Following the service, Ayyad was reportedly carried to a dusty grave dug by two Muslims.
Until his sudden death, Ayyad managed the Teacher’s Bookshop, run by the Palestinian Bible Society (PBS), a mission group involved in the distribution of Christian literature and several aid and education programs. In comments monitored by BosNewsLife, PBS Executive Secretary Labib Madanat said his team was struggling with the loss of their colleague.
"Rami was the most gentle member on the team, the ever smiling one. He was the face of our Bible shop, always receiving visitors and serving them as Jesus would," Madanat explained. "He left behind him a wife, Pauline, and two little children. He also left behind him a committed team of servants of the Lord," the PSB official added. Madanat said he had urged supporters to "pray for Rami’s family and for the team and all Christ followers in Gaza." In addition, Madanat stressed, he asked Christians to "pray for those who think that by killing us they offer a service to God; may they come to know His love."
"ULTIMATE COST"
He warned that, "the hour of the ultimate cost of following Christ has come," amid concerns about possible other attacks against Christians carried out by extremists in the Gaza Strip, where the militant Hamas group wrested control of the area in mid-June.
"It is not at all clear to what extent even [the ruling] Hamas [group] is able to control all these many and different armed and extremist factions in the Gaza strip," said Father David Jaeger, spokesman for the Franciscan Custodians of Roman Catholic sites in the Holy Land. "We have [therefore] to assume that the tiny community of Christians in the Gaza Strip can not feel secure," he said in remarks aired on Vatican Radio and monitored by BosNewsLife.
The Vatican also condemned the murder, BosNewsLife learned. Ayyad’s emotional mother, Anisa, said earlier that her son "redeemed Christ with his blood. Rami redeemed the Bible with his blood."
BOOKSTORE BOMBED
Before the latest killing a bomb already damaged the Palestinian Bible Society’s bookstore in Gaza City in April and dozens of Internet cafes and video cassette shops were blown up in the past year. Many of the bombings were claimed by ‘The Righteous Swords of Islam’, a little-known group opposed to what it described as violations of Islamic tenets.
In a statement however, the Hamas-run interior ministry vowed that Ayyad’s killers would be found and punished and that it would crackdown on those threatening stability. "We will pursue anyone who is found to be involved in this case," it said. "We will not be merciful with those who abuse the security and stability of our people."
However Jaeger said he believes that "On the whole security will come to Christians in the Holy Land only following a Palestinian-Israeli peace treaty, which will secure two secular democracies, Israel and Palestine living side by side." About 3,200 Christians, including many Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic and some evangelical believers, are living in the Gaza Strip among 1.5 million Muslims.
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URGENT BREAKING NEWS: Prominent Palestinian Christian Killed In Gaza |
