Dramatic footage of Israeli air strikes on the Gaza strip was captured by Christians from an outreach organisation to Muslims, who were about to begin a prayer meeting.
Members of the Hope For Ishmael ministry – which was founded by former terrorist sniper Tass Abu Saada after he came to Christ – were gathering for evening prayers on Zoom when their team leader managed to grab pictures of a huge nearby explosion.
The shots were released in an online video containing an array of film detailing some of the air attacks in Gaza as tensions between Palestinians and Israelis escalated following a dispute connected with the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
The video also shows an Israeli drone strike on a block of flats which was a strategic stronghold of terrorist group Hamas, and some of the impact on local people caught up in the explosions.
The website of Hope For Ishmael tells how the organisation came into being, explaining: ‘The founder and director of Hope for Ishmael, Taysir (“Tass”) Abu Saada was born in Gaza and reared in Saudi Arabia and Qatar before running away from home at the age of 17 to join Fatah in the late 1960s, becoming a Palestinian Liberation Organisation sniper for Yasser Arafat. In 1974, at Yasser Arafat’s urging, he moved to the United States to study. In 1993, Tass experienced a powerful conversion to Christianity, and now has a love for the Jewish people he had hated so strongly in his youth.
‘He and his wife Karen founded Seeds of Hope, a humanitarian organisation that operates in Jericho and Jerusalem. Tass and Karen also founded Hope for Ishmael, a Christian ministry which seeks to advance Israeli-Palestinian understanding and dialogue, as well as to reach Muslims with the gospel of Christ.’
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