This link from my friend Jim. Rami Ayyad, the director of The Teacher's Bookshop, the only Christian bookshop in the Gaza Strip, was stabbed and shot during the weekend. His body was discovered in the early hours of this morning. The previous day he had had told his family that he had been followed by an unmarked car. Ayyad was abducted by an Islamic group as he closed up shop on Saturday. His family received two phone calls stating that he had been taken by a group of people and would return home later that night, but he never did.

Quote: "At 6:25 this morning, news was received that Rami's body had been found at a location near the Teachers' Bookshop in Gaza were he had spent most of his time running the bookshop. Signs of bullets and knife stabs could be clearly seen on his body. Rami 26, leaves behind two young children, and a pregnant wife. The funeral is expected to take place at 16:00 today. No group or party has claimed responsibility.

Reuters reports that relations between Christians and Muslims have not deteriorated since the Hamas take-over of the Gaza Strip. But very few Christians actually live in the region, and those that remain face persecution whether it is Hamas or Fatah in power. In June 2006, an Islamic group told the YMCA to close their offices in Gaza or face violence. The Muslim group opposed missionary work being carried out by the YMCA, and said that their city had no need for the facility seeing there were so few Christians living in Gaza. The building was firebombed several times by Palestinian terrorists, most recently by those associated with Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The attacks followed sermons in dozens of mosques in Friday prayers, inciting Muslims to revolt against the Christian organization.

John 16:2-3
They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.

Source Palestinian Bible Society, Reuters