by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) - Taysir Saada, a former sniper for the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), has revealed that Gaza Palestinians caught up in the Hamas war against Israel are having dreams and visions of Jesus and are rejoicing as they accept Him as their Savior, CBN News reports.
Formerly an aide to the late PLO leader Yasser Arafat, Saada turned from Islam to Christ around 30 years ago: his testimony is recorded in his book Once an Arafat Man, CBN News said.
Saada now leads the Kansas-based Hope for Ishmael ministry, which he founded. The ministry consists of Christians of Muslim backgrounds in the US, Middle East, and Europe. Moreover, Hope for Ishmael partners with and supports “persecuted believers in the Holy Land and Jordan that are faithfully serving and loving their ‘enemies.’”
According to Saada, Palestinians are turning to the Lord as Hamas continues to fight Israel while hiding behind civilians whose lives have been devastated by the war. "About 200 Gazans gave their heart to Jesus in one lump sum because the Lord appeared to them in visions and dreams and they were hugging each other and, you know, rejoicing and realized that all of them had the same vision that each one of them had," Saada told CBN News.
"Despite all of the destruction that is taking place, I believe God has a purpose to get the Palestinians in Gaza to wake up and look at a different alternative to what they believe,” Saada said. "I do believe we're going to have a lot of revival, a lot of believers coming through. It's already happening today," he added.
Meanwhile, there are around 1,000 Christians in Gaza, many of whom could have left at the outset of the war launched by Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7 last year. However, they have remained in the war-torn enclave to help and offer the hope of the Gospel to their Muslim neighbors.
In an interview with CBN News, Pastor William Devlin, who leads the international charity global charity Widows and Orphans, said: "The situation in Gaza is perilous. It's enormous ... Hamas is a culture of death, they are all about death. So we're grateful that the Christians are there giving life and many of them could have left. But they say, 'Look, this is our ancestral homeland. We've been here since antiquity and we're not going to leave.'"