People sheltering in two churches in Gaza

 While the bombardment of Hamas continues in the Gaza Strip, the small contingent of Christians there is sheltering in two churches. They, like many citizens in Gaza, wonder if they will live through this crisis. 

The past ten days have been filled with horror for southern Israel and for Gaza – hundreds were reportedly killed on Tuesday when a missile struck a hospital in northern Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The war began when Hamas executed the deadliest single terrorist attack in Israel’s 75-year history.

The initial Hamas attack has been retaliated by Israel through nonstop bombardment and a complete blockade on the more than 2 million populated Gaza Strip. Thousands of civilians have been killed in the war, and international negotiations to allow critical humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip through Egypt’s Rafah crossing have so far been unsuccessful.  

Gaza’s small Christian community has been sheltering in two churches in Gaza City during this week’s Israeli bombardment. Both churches lie within north Gaza, the area that the Israeli military has ordered civilians to leave in preparation for an expected ground invasion.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) has been made aware of the churches and Christians’ presence in the area. IDF leaders have told private sources that they will protect and ensure that the churches do not become targets in the war.  

Gaza’s civilian population must be protected in this latest escalation of the Hamas-Israel war. Gaza’s churches must not become targets of war, and people taking refuge inside the churches must be protected.  

Political challenges and conflict in recent decades have threatened the continued survival of the Gazan church and its estimated 1,000 Christians who face persecution. 

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Myanmar military bomb refugee camps

The Burmese military, known as the Tatmadaw, bombed a refugee camp in the northern state of Kachin this week. The strike killed 29 and wounded 55, according to the Kachin rebel group as reported in the New York Times.

The military has killed 4,146 civilians, including 472 children, since it seized the country in a February 2021 coup and arrested 25,300, according to the rights group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

When the military took over the government in 2021, it promised that it would quickly conduct free and fair elections. It has broken that promise and self-imposed deadlines several times since, and analysts believe that the Tatmadaw could not conduct an election today given its tenuous control of the country.

Recent reports suggest that anti-junta militias have gained significant ground in recent months, reducing the area under solid Tatmadaw control to as little as 17%, according to the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar.

In September, ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), a regional bloc, voted to remove Myanmar from its scheduled chairmanship in 2026, replacing the country with the Philippines. ASEAN has consistently voiced its disapproval of Tatmadaw’s usurpation of the government.

Myanmar is a patchwork mosaic of ethnic and religious groups. Though a strong majority of the population is ethnic Burman, and an even greater percentage is Buddhist. The communities that make up the rest are well-established, well-organized, and mostly predate the formation of the modern state by centuries.

The Tatmadaw has long persecuted Rohingya Muslims and ethnic minority Christians including with bombings of civilians, torture, and attempts to forcefully convert minorities to Buddhism.

In many cases, Myanmar’s ethnic minorities have taken on a distinct religious identity as well. About 20-30% of ethnic Karen are Christians, while other groups—such as the Chin—are more than 90% Christian. This overlap of ethnic and religious identity has created a volatile situation for believers. In Chin State, for example, most of the population is Christian, creating a target-rich area for the military.

Many refugees from Myanmar flee directly across the western border into India and Bangladesh or across the eastern border into Thailand. Some end up resettling as far away as the United States and Australia, while many others face decades of uncertainty in massive refugee camps closer to Myanmar.

For interviews, please contact:  press@persecution.org.  

Muslims burn down Catholic church and kills one in Kaduna state

Suspected Muslim terrorists attacked and burned a Catholic seminary in Kaduna State, Nigeria on Friday and killed a young seminarian who was trapped in the fire.

The attack occurred at the rectory and house of St. Rachael’s Parish in Fadan Kamantan. Two priests escaped the blaze, but seminarian Naam Ngofe Danladi perished. A Catholic church representative said they were warned before the attack, and they contacted authorities. The military, however, arrived after the assailants fled and the church was destroyed.

Kaduna State Gov. Uba Sani vowed to bring the assailants to justice.

Rev. John Joseph Hayab, chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Kaduna State Chapter, issued a statement on Saturday, saying “our hearts are filled with pains” over the incident:

“It is no longer news that armed men invaded a Catholic Church Parish Headquarters located at Fadan Kamantan community and the criminals targeted the Parish Priest’s residence … the Parish Priest, Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Okolo who also doubles as the Chancellor of the Catholic Diocese of Kafanchan, and his assistant were able to escape out of the house before the criminals set the entire Rectory ablaze burning to death a Seminarian Bro. Naam Ngofe Danladi who is just about completing his training into the Catholic Priesthood.

"What is disheartening about this particular attack is the fact that the place of attack is just by the Kaduna – Kafanchan Major highway with a military checkpoint not far from the Parish. The Parish is located at the heart of Kamantan town, and the attack was carried out at about 8:00 p.m. This causes us to wonder some more, ‘Where is the hope, how much more terrible could the situation get?’

“We appreciate the willingness of the present administration to proffer practical, real and lasting solutions to the security challenge in Kaduna State as made visible by the ongoing recruitment process of over 7,000 men and women into the Kaduna State Vigilante Services (KADVIS).

“In the light of sharing in the faith of the perceived goodwill of the present administration in Kaduna State, we invite the Governor of Kaduna State and all relevant stakeholders to immediately swing into action and ensure that those responsible for the Kamantan evil night are apprehended and made to face the law.

“Security is everyone’s business; it is disappointing that this kind of unholy activity could be recorded at the heart of the Fadan Kamantan community, and the criminals will operate unchallenged. It is a slap to the security forces within that jurisdiction, it is a slap to the religious leaders, traditional and community leaders."

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7 churches attacked in Nepal over the past 2 weeks

 An attack on a church in Nepal’s Lumbini Province on Monday was just the latest in a string of recent violence against Christians in the country. The church is in the southern Nawalparasi district of Lumbini along the border with India’s Uttar Pradesh state and was one of two churches in the same town that were vandalized over the weekend.

Photos and videos reviewed by International Christian Concern (ICC) showed broken windows and other signs of violence around the property, including damage to fences and a broken motorbike. Another photo shared on social media showed two men, identified as pastors, being assaulted on the street. Gathered locals appear to have smeared the pastors’ faces with a sticky black substance in an act described by ICC contacts as a cultural sign of hatred and disrespect.

ICC has learned that the attacks in Lumbini are the sixth and seventh such attacks against churches in Nepal in the last two weeks. “It’s spreading like wildfire,” a Nepalese civil society leader said about the recent spate of attacks. Perpetrators, seeing little to no response from the authorities in recent weeks, “are encouraged to act more,” he told ICC.

News of another incident of men assaulting Christians, this time in Janakpur, emerged on Tuesday as word of Monday’s attack on the two pastors spread.

“Nepal has long been on our radar for its persecution of Christians and hypocrisy related to religious freedom,” said ICC President Jeff King. “Nepalese citizens have the right to practice their faith according to the constitution as long as they keep that faith to themselves. Any proselytizing can bring significant persecution and consequences.” 

In Kathmandu, the country’s capital city, two men were apparently arrested and taken to court for street preaching. Though the country’s constitution ostensibly protects religious freedom, it does so in vague enough terms to allow a law today that criminalizes proselytization. Chapter 19 of the Muluki Ain, or general code of Nepal, states that “no one shall propagate any religion in such manner as to undermine the religion of other nor shall cause other to convert his or her religion.”

Religious minorities are regularly arrested and charged under this law, which goes beyond its neighbor India’s bans on forced conversions to criminalizing participation in the act of conversion in any form. In Nepal, proselytization carries with it the threat of up to six years in prison and subsequent deportation in the case of foreigners.

The U.S. Department of State highlighted its concerns with Nepal’s anti-conversion and anti-proselytization laws in a report published earlier this year. “Multiple religious groups in the country,” the report stated, “[continue] to reiterate that the constitutional and criminal code provisions governing religious conversion and proselytism [are] vague and contradictory and [open] the door for prosecution for actions carried out in the normal course of practicing one’s religion.”

For interviews, please contact: press@persecution.org.

Fulani militants kill 21 overnight in Nigeria

 Despite warnings of an attack earlier in the week and the presence of security guards, 21 villagers were killed by suspected radical Fulani militants in north-central Nigeria on Thursday night.

Witnesses say gunmen slipped into the Heipang community village and opened fire between 1:30 and 3:30 a.m. Most of the victims were internally displaced persons (IDP) who had fled earlier violence. Heipang is in the Barkin-Ladi Local Government Area in Plateau State.

“This is the third armed attack on the community which has enjoyed relative peace for years,” said one community leader.

The Heipang community has lost more than 100 villagers in attacks over the past two decades, with no arrests. Villagers in Heipang and Mangu blame radicalized Fulani militants and herders for causing the attacks on the mostly Christian farming communities.

They say the government is complicit and unable to prevent the attacks – a common thread in Nigeria’s Middle Belt region that has been rocked by violence with tens of thousands of Christians killed over the past 20 years.

Plateau State Gov. Caleb Mutfwang expressed his condolences and strongly condemned the attack.

Another al-Shabaab attack in Kenya

 Al-Shabaab militants ambushed vehicles, killed one person, and injured 10 others in Lamu, Kenya, on August 1.  

“Today at approximately 7:40 a.m., suspected terrorists attacked travelers along the Lamu-Witu-Garsen highways where one person was killed and 10 injured, while a yet-to-be-determined number are missing,” said the Kenyan Minister for Interior and National Administration.  

Security reports that approximately 60 members of the Somali-based al-Qaida-allied terrorist group stopped vehicles and motorcycles in the remote area, fully armed, ready to carry out a massive attack.

One of the security personnel who responded to the attack told ICC, “We were notified by the first survivors that arrived on a vehicle damaged in the rear by bullets. We responded rapidly, and a gun battle ensued. We managed to scatter the large groups of terrorists into the nearby Boni Forest. We thank God that He used the survivors to report to us. It would have been one of the deadliest al-Shabaab attacks in recent years.”  

One of the vehicles sprayed with bullets belonged to a local member of the County Assembly, who was traveling with his wife and children. They were evaluated and taken to the hospital, where his wife succumbed to bullet wounds as they were receiving treatment. 

Today’s attack comes barely three weeks after one person was killed and seven houses set on fire by terrorists that attacked internally displaced people (IDPs) taking shelter at a camp in Juhudi due to the ongoing security threat in Lamu.

In a separate incident, the Al-Shabaab militia earlier today detonated an improvised explosive device and fired assault weapons targeting a passenger bus in Mandera, injuring one civilian.  

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Fulani militants are out here killing babies

 Suspected Fulani militants killed eight people, including an eight-month-old baby girl, Sunday night in the Vwang District of Jos.  

The gunmen raided the village, shooting sporadically at the victims who were headed home for the night. The eight-month-old and her father were returning from the hospital when they were gunned down.  

This attack comes as communities in central and northern Nigeria have faced rising terrorist attacks.  

"[The Fulani militants] continue to unleash terror on innocent citizens in the communities of Riyom, Barkin Ladi, Jos South and Mangu Local Government Areas of Plateau state in renewed attacks since after 2023 General Elections,” said the National Publicity Secretary of Berom Youth Movement in a statement.  

The Fulani, who are majority Muslim, is the world’s largest nomadic ethnic group. While most Fulani lives at peace with their neighbors, militant Fulanis, radicalized by extreme Islam, have emerged from their people group with jihadist intent.       

Radicalized and armed Islamist Fulani have killed tens of thousands of Christians and left more than three million homeless in a 20-year genocide against them.  

“Christian communities in the Middle Belt of Nigeria have effectively suffered a twenty-year-long genocide,” said ICC President Jeff King. “Where is the outcry? Where is effective action? In Nigeria, the military, the police, and the intelligence agencies are all controlled by Muslims. This, coupled with a 20-year lack of response by these agencies, should naturally lead to deeper questioning by the international community.  Simply put, the time for cheap talk and platitudes is over. The world is waking up and asking, ‘Is the Nigerian government complicit in these attacks.’”  

Please pray for peace in the affected communities, and pray for the families of the victims.  

For interviews, please contact: press@persecution.org.