A 60-year-old Christian from Gaza is now living on the streets of Nazareth but says he prefers to stay there than to go back to Gaza, where he had lived his entire life.
Kamal Tarazi fled the Gaza Strip in 2007 after Hamas, an Islamic group considered a terrorist outfit in Israel, seized control of the enclave, ousting its previous government, officials from Fatah.
"The moment they took control, they started persecuting us, ruining our churches and forcing Christians to convert to Islam", the 60-year-old Christian recalls.
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It was then that Tarazi decided to organise demonstrations against the movement, uniting Christians and Muslims alike. The calls to act didn't move the masses, but they did anger Hamas.
"I was jailed several times. Do you know what a Hamas prison is? It is pure torture", he explains, adding that the Islamic group decided to keep him alive to avoid depicting themselves as persecutors of the local Christian population, something that could potentially anger the international community.
After two months in prison, Tarazi had had enough. Shortly before Christmas, he applied for a permit that would allow him to cross the border into Israel and then travel to Bethlehem - located in the West Bank - to attend a series of religious ceremonies.
Once the permit was given and the border was crossed, Tarazi vowed he would never go back, and he is not alone.
Gaza's Christian community has been steadily declining over the years. Before Hamas came to power in 2007, Christians made up some 3,500 people in the Strip. Now, however, there are no more than 1,300 and Tarazi says the actual number is even lower.
"I am sure there are no more than 500 Christians left in Gaza and it is just part of the general trend", he explains.
Over the years, many Gazans decided to flee the Strip, unable to cope with the difficult security and economic situation.
In 2018 alone, some 35,000 Gazans fled the Strip and Tarazi says the number of those who have left since 2007 surpassed 200,000 people.
"For Gaza, with its total population of 1.8 million, this number is significant", he continues.
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