GAZA CITY, Palestine (ABP) — The Palestinian Baptist manager of a well-known Christian book store in the Gaza Strip has been murdered.
Authorities reportedly found the body of Rami Ayyad on Oct. 7 in Gaza City. He died from a gunshot wound to the head and numerous stab wounds, according to officials from Open Doors, an agency that supports persecuted Christians worldwide. He had been missing since Oct. 6, when he phoned his family to say he had been kidnapped.
Reports differed on Ayyad's age. According to some, he was 30. Other reports listed his age as 26.
Ayyad managed the Palestinian Bible Society bookshop and had received several death threats from people angry about the store.
A spokesman for the bookstore said Ayyad was “the most gentle member on the team.”
He was “the ever-smiling one,” Simon Azazian said in a press release distributed by Open Doors. “He was the face of our Bible shop, always receiving visitors and serving them as Jesus would.”
The bookshop is Gaza's only Christian bookstore, according to the Baptist World Alliance. It shares a common building with a library and community development center, the base for one of the largest relief agencies in the Gaza Strip.
In February 2006, two pipe bombs exploded in front of the shop. Following that attack, workers received a letter demanding the shop close permanently, according to Christianity Today. The Bible Society reopened it five weeks later. This past April, terrorists firebombed it.
Ayyad is survived by his wife, Pauline, and two young children. Pauline Ayyad is reportedly five months pregnant.
Officials have said the shop will remain closed for an undetermined length of time.
Police have yet to identify suspects in the murder.
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