News from Gaza: three executions and Christian unrest about conversions

 The ministry of interior in the Gaza Strip said three men convicted of murder were hanged on Tuesday, a statement said. A total of 14 Palestinians have now been executed since the Islamist group Hamas seized the Gaza Strip in 2007.
One of the men was convicted of murdering his cousin, another murdered a female relative and the third man killed someone who had stolen his mobile phone, Gaza's ministry of interior said. The ministry identified the executed men only by their initials.

Orthodox church in Gaza City

Dozens of Gaza Christians staged a rare public protest Monday, claiming two congregants were forcibly converted to Islam and were being held against their will. The small but noisy demonstration showed the increasingly desperate situation facing the tiny minority. Protesters banged on a church bell and chanted, "With our spirit, with our blood we will sacrifice ourselves for you, Jesus."
Gaza police say the two are staying with a Muslim religious official at their request, because they fear retribution from their families converting to Islam. Two mediators said the two — a 25-year-old man and a woman with three children — appeared to have embraced Islam of their free will. Forced conversions have been unheard of in Gaza before.
Since the Islamic militant Hamas seized power five years ago, Christians have felt increasingly embattled, but have mostly kept silent.
There are growing fears among Gaza Christians that their rapidly shrinking community could disappear through emigration and conversions.
Their numbers appear to have shrunk from some 3,500 to about 1,500 in recent years, according to community estimates. They are a tiny minority among 1.7 million Palestinians in Gaza, most conservative Muslims.