Easter hope amid Gaza conflict: Palestinian Christians pray for peace

ATLANTA - Easter is a time of celebration for those of the Christian faith, but for local Palestinian Christians they have to balance the hope of Easter Sunday with the pain and fear they feel for their loved ones in Gaza. 

"God of Peace, we ask you to stop this war in Gaza," the El-Sayegh family and Rev. Dr. Fahed Abu-Akel, a Palestinian Presbyterian minister, joined together in prayer Sunday. They are praying for an end to the violence in their homeland. 

Lydia El-Sayegh says she has many family members just trying to stay alive, sheltering in a Christian church there with hundreds of other people, including her grandmother and aunt. 

She says it is hard to feel the hope of this important day for Christianity while they know their family members there are suffering, but she says her faith and the message of Easter gives her hope. 

"They don't have enough food to share. They don't have enough electricity. They don't have enough water. They've been drinking seawater sometimes. And so, it's been very difficult.... the day of resurrection is a declaration of hope that life is the final world word, and not death, and not genocide, and not starvation, but life and life abundant," said El-Sayegh. 

El-Sayegh hopes that one day soon the violence will end, and Gaza can rise anew. She says for that to happen they need an immediate and lasting ceasefire. 

The Biden administration has recently increased their calls for an immediate ceasefire in the war, including a United Nations resolution.