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First Gaza Christian Killed: 'This Is Her Blood-Soaked Clothes!'

CBN

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GAZA - The major news media is focusing once again on casualties at a U.N. school in Gaza that was struck by Israeli tank shells.

But they failed to report that Hamas has been using their own children and other civilians as human shields by using schools and mosques to hide weapons and launch rockets against Israeli civilians.

Hamas' military chief in Gaza said his fighters are "eager for death" and vowed to keep fighting until Israel's seven-year blockade of the strip was lifted.

That comes as Israel's sea, land, and air offensive continues to strike at key Hamas control centers, including a hit on Gaza's only power plant, leaving most of the city without electricity.

What is it really like for Christians in Gaza? George Thomas talks more about their situation with Wendy Griffith.

Gazans are struggling to cope with the devastation. In one of the hardest hit areas of this city, a Palestinian Christian is among the casualties.

Three days after an Israeli air strike killed his 60-year-old mother and destroyed their home, Palestinian Christian Antoine Ayyad has returned to what's left of the home, searching through rubble trying to salvage what he can.

"I can still smell her! This is her blood-soaked clothes! This is a piece of her burned hair," he told CBN News.

"On Sunday my mother become the first Christian killed in the Gaza war," Ayyad said.

Ayyad said his mother was on her way to church, carrying this cross in her hand, when a missile struck their house.

"The wall collapsed on her body right over there and severed her legs. In this corner, my brother was severely injured and my father was on the roof, but thank God he survived," Ayyad said.

Several buildings around the house were slightly damaged.

"We are an ordinary family; we've never been involved in politics or anything controversial against Hamas or Israel," he said.

Antoine told CBN News he's not sure why the Israelis targeted his home, but the suspicions are that there was a senior Hamas leader in the neighborhood.

Antoine wouldn't confirm nor deny this possibility on camera, but off camera he told CBN News that he's concerned about the direction of his tiny city on the Mediterranean that once was home to a thriving Christian community.

Now less than 2,000 Christians live on the strip. The majority of residents are Sunni Muslim.

For now though, the skies over Gaza City are once again filled with smoke as Israel intensifies its offensive in the Palestinian territory.

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