NORTH SINAI MARCH 7, 2017 (CISA) – Coptic Catholic Christians from North Sinai region have fled their homes and taken refuge in Churches in Egypt owing to the increased attacks and killings of Christians by ISIS Jihadists.
Fr Rafic Greiche, spokesperson for the Coptic Catholic Church in Egypt said that only Coptic Catholic Christians have been affected by these attacks that have being going on for quite some time.
He added that the Catholic Churches, schools in Ismailia and ordinary Muslims have been of great help in offering these fleeing families with a place to stay and assisting in caring for the injured victims in hospitals, and have also received support from the Caritas.
“Ordinary Muslims are kind and try to help however they can. They’re often first on the scene, rescuing the injured and taking them to hospitals,” said Fr Greiche while speaking to Catholic News Services.
Fr Greiche said that the ISIS terrorists have strongly entrenched themselves in the region thanks to the support that they have been receiving from the Hamas and Muslim brotherhood, who have allowed them to use tunnels in the Gaza strip to plot their attacks.
Egypt’s president General Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, condemned these attacks during a youth gathering in Cairo last week, terming them as cowardly act by evil people aimed at undermining national unity and confidence in the state.
The president added that he had instructed the defence, interior and intelligence ministries to resist all attempts to sabotage stability and security.
Despite this, a statement released by Amnesty international on March 1, said that the government has consistently failed to protect Coptic residents of north Sinai from constant attacks by the militia
