Ehab Gattas had looked forward to ringing in the New Year with other believers at San George Church in Cairo. But shortly after he arrived and settled in for an evening of worship and fellowship, a group of extremists from the Muslim Brotherhood threw a Molotov cocktail into the church and opened fire on the building. He and several other young Christians immediately tried to protect the church and the other members, but Gattas was hit by gunfire and taken to the hospital.
He was turned away from three hospitals because of a lack of proper facilities or beds before finally being admitted, but by then it was too late. His condition had worsened, and he died shortly afterwards.
Gattas, a university student, was a part of Egypt’s Eastern traditional Coptic Christian community. Egypt is home to the Middle East’s largest Christian minority, and Islamic extremist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood have specifically targeted Christians, kidnapping their daughters, murdering their sons, burning and looting their homes and businesses, and bombing their churches. Attacks against Christians by the Muslim Brotherhood increased noticeably after the extremist group’s political candidate, Mohammed Morsi, was ousted from office as president in 2013.
While Christians in Egypt know they could be attacked at any time, they refuse to give in to fear, instead choosing to gather for worship in a nation dominated by Islam.
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