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Egypt

• Alive Through Christ's Presence
  
  Samiha (on right) miraculously survived.
  Photo: Open Doors USA

  When a bomb exploded right next to Samiha Tawfiq Awad, who was attending St. Peter's Church in Cairo on December 11th, 2016, everyone thought she was dead. With half of her face gone, doctors warned her husband, Qalini, that she would not survive. Today, Samiha and Qalini joyfully share that God had other plans. No one can explain how she survived, as doctors had already listed her name as one of the deceased. But miraculously her life was sustained until the doctors finally began administering treatment.

• Church Re-Opens After Bombing Attack

  
  The church has recently reopened for worship services.
  Photo: World Watch Monitor

  After eight months of extensive restoration work, Christians in the city of Tanta (north of Cairo) were elated over the re-opening of St. George's Cathedral which had been destroyed during last year's Palm Sunday suicide bombing attack.

  As of its re-opening, the church has been renamed the Cathedral of St. George and the Martyrs, and its blood-splattered pillars have been left untouched, as reminders of the many precious lives that were lost in the attack.

• Christmas Blessing Gives Hope to Persecuted Families
  
  This year's "Christmas Blessing" outreach is providing ministry to many suffering Christian families in Egypt.

  More than 40 people died and countless others were injured in this year's deadly Palm Sunday attack in the Nile Delta, the deadliest since the December 2016 attack on St. Mark's cathedral in Cairo. Incidents such as these reveal an ever-growing antagonism that is continuing to threaten the general security and safety of the church in Egypt.

  This year, VOMC aims to bless 3,000 Christian families in nine villages throughout Egypt with a Christmas Blessing package. These families live with the daily pressures of persecution while seeking to live out their faith in a hostile environment. The Christmas Blessing project is a means of conveying our solidarity with persecuted Christian brothers and sisters facing severe challenges for their faith, and prayerfully providing them help, hope and encouragement.

• Kidnapped Coptic Girl Returns Safely Home

  
  Photo: World Watch Monitor

  A 16-year-old Coptic Christian girl, who had been abducted on June 28th, was released and safely returned to her family on September 30th after police located her in a city just outside of Cairo. At the time of her recovery, the police captured the kidnappers and placed them under arrest. Although Marilyn is from a village in the governorate of Minya, she was found in a city named 10th of Ramadan, which is situated several hundred kilometres away. The leader of the girl's church, Father Boutros Khalaf, announced that Marilyn had "not been treated well" by her kidnappers but she is "very happy to be back with her family."

• Christians on High Alert Amid Bomb Threats

  
  Egyptian Christian children gather round
  the country's flag in a group activity.
  Photo: World Watch Monitor

  Intelligence reports have raised concerns of a fresh wave of violence specifically targeting believers travelling to summer camps by bus. The authorities say militants are planning suicide bomb attacks on Christians, as well as army and police personnel. In light of this news, officials have asked church leaders to cancel any camps and conferences held outside of church buildings.

• Mysterious Disappearance of Christian Women

  
  Suzan Ashraf Rawy
  Photo: Morning Star News

  A young 22-year-old woman went missing last week as she walked to the church where she works in Egypt. Local Christians fear Suzan Ashraf Rawy has been kidnapped, just like the other two young women who suddenly vanished from the same Cairo suburb just days before. It has been reported that women in Al Khosous, a mainly Christian town located just outside of Cairo, are now too frightened to leave their houses. Since the most recent abduction, a women's meeting at Suzan's church was cancelled.

• Egyptian Christians Killed During Ambush

  
  One of the buses that was attacked by gunmen.

  On May 26th, armed gunmen opened fire, killing at least 28 Christians and wounding more than 20 others. The victimized believers were travelling on two buses and an accompanying SUV to attend services at the Monastery of St. Samuel in Minya, southern Egypt.

  The convoy was stopped at 9:30 a.m. on a remote desert road near El Idwa, close to the border between two provinces. According to the Egyptian health ministry, eight to ten masked attackers wearing military uniforms blocked the vehicles as they were passing through the Minya region (about 200 kilometres south of Cairo). When the militants intercepted the vehicles at gunpoint, they forced all the travellers to hand over their money, jewelry and mobile phones.

• Palm Sunday Bombings Lead to Prayer Vigils

  
  Pray for the safety and peace of
  Christians residing in Egypt.

  On April 9th, explosions targeting Palm Sunday services at two churches in Egypt killed at least 44 people and injured over a hundred others. According to reports, the first bomb exploded during the morning service of St. George's Church in Tanta, a city less than 96 kilometres north of Cairo, killing 27 people and wounding 78 others. Just hours later, the second explosion -- a suicide bomb attack -- killed a further 17 Christians and injured 48 at St. Mark's Cathedral in Alexandria.

  Palm Sunday's bombings are the latest in a series of attacks targeting Christians in the country. In December 2016, ISIS claimed responsibility for a Cairo church bombing that killed almost 30 innocent people. At least seven more individuals have been murdered by militants in northern Egypt since January 30th -- with victims being burned alive, stabbed in their sleep, or shot in the street. In February, the jihadist group released a video inciting violence against the "infidel" Christian faith community. A previous report is available here.

  Due to the increasing number of threats and attacks, hundreds of Christians fled the coastal city of El-Arish, Sinai, in late February. Egypt's president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi declared a three-month nationwide state of emergency following the attacks, and established a Supreme Council to Combat Terrorism and Fanaticism.

  While mourning the Christians killed during the two Palm Sunday bomb attacks, several churches in various parts of Egypt will not be conducting their usual Easter celebration festivities but rather will be focussing on the importance of prayer.

  May God's presence be tangibly experienced by these brokenhearted brothers and sisters in Christ -- providing greatly needed comfort to the grieving, healing to the injured, and strength and hope to all who've been traumatized by the bombings. Ask that His wisdom will be granted to the Egyptian government as attempts are made to bring those who are responsible to justice and ensure protection of the remaining members of the Christian community. Despite the upheaval and attacks in recent months, pray that the church in Egypt will remain unified and strong; not only fully equipped with the armour of God for this heightened spiritual battle but also filled with His Spirit so they can respond in ways that testify of His compassion, mercy and saving grace.

• Abducted Young Woman Given New Identity

  
  Hanan Adly Girgis
  Photo: World Watch Monitor

  The family of a kidnapped 18-year-old Christian woman, who has been missing since January 26th, accused the police of complicity in her kidnapping after the authorities failed to take action against an alleged suspect who admitted his involvement in the crime. The young woman, Hanan Girgis, was found missing from her family home in Esna, a village of Upper Egypt, when some of her brothers returned during the night.

  After a search failed to locate her, Hanan's brothers and their lawyer made a formal complaint to the police, suspecting a neighbour, Mohamed Ahmed Nubi Soliman, of her kidnapping. Prosecutors summoned the accused 27-year-old man who admitted a connection with the abduction. However, he was released due to lack of physical evidence. And although a national security investigation was ordered, according to the family's lawyer, there has been no progress with the case, despite protests outside the police station by the missing young woman's friends and family.

  During the protests, security forces used a fire station car and unnecessary violence to disperse the crowd. In addition to arresting 20 people, several of the protesters were badly injured. Of those arrested, five were released later the same day; the rest were freed the next day due to the intervention of church leaders. "(Members of the security forces) broke the leg of my 23-year-old brother and wounded my older brother...who's 28," states Rezeiky, one of Hanan's concerned siblings. The young man adds that they "dragged my mother and beat my three aunts." Two other relatives, Shahin and Ayman, were also hurt at the scene.

  Rezeiky has been told by the Civil Status Authority at Esna Police Station that his sister Hanan now has a new Muslim identity and is being held by the security services. The family's lawyer accused the police of "complicity and apathy" in the case, adding that "because the victim is a Christian girl, we see inaction." To learn more about the difficult challenges facing followers of Christ in Egypt, please visit our online country report.

  Pray for Hanan's protection and peace as she awaits deliverance from her captors. May all her fears be washed away, enabling her to explicitly trust the Lord for His divine intervention. Ask that no harm will come to her while in captivity, nor to her family and friends who are diligently pleading for her release. In the meantime, also intercede for the kidnappers, praying that they will come to know Christ as their personal Saviour through her exemplary testimony. May the enemy's work be divinely intercepted -- turning Hanan's circumstances around for good and the fulfillment of God's higher purposes.

• More Lives Under Threat Since Published Video

  Christians in Egypt are requesting prayer after four fatal shooting incidents took place in the past few weeks and the discovery of an alarming video calling for further killings. On January 31st, Wa'el Youssef was shot dead by militants in front of his wife and son at his shop in the North Sinai town of al-Arish. Two weeks later, militants in the same town shot and killed two more Christians: Bahgat William and Adel Shawqi. A fourth Christian, Gamal Tawfiq, was shot and killed on February 16th.

  Three days later, on February 19th, a video was published by members of ISIS, calling for Christians in Egypt to be killed. The video featured a recording of the suicide bomber who detonated inside a Cairo church on December 11th, 2016. As a result of this massive attack, a total of 29 innocent people were killed. (A previously published report on the church bombing is available here.)

  One Christian resident told the local newspaper: "We have been leading very hard lives since the last four killings.... We can't leave because our livelihoods are here, our homes are here, and we have nowhere else to go. We keep on asking ourselves every day, 'Who's next?'"

  Additional Note: We have since been informed by Middle East Concern that three more Egyptian Christians have lost their lives in targeted attacks. Saeed al-Hakim and his son Medhat were killed on February 23rd; and the following day, armed militants forced their way into the house of Kamal Youssef and shot him in front of his wife and children. After the most recent attack, more than 118 Christian families have left al-Arish in hopes of finding refuge in safer areas of Egypt.

  Please pray that the Lord's ministering presence will be tangibly experienced by all whose loved ones were tragically killed in the past few weeks, as well as those who died due to the December suicide bombing. Ask for His protection to surround Egypt's remaining Christians and others who are being threatened by the militants, and for His wisdom to be granted as to how they should respond to the threats. Let us be mindful of the need to also intercede on behalf of the militants responsible for the attacks, that their hardened hearts will be touched by God's transforming love -- for how else will they experience His life-saving grace?