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A worshiper prays next to grotto at the Church of Nativity on December 25 in Bethlehem, West Bank.
Maja Hitij/Getty Images
Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem were canceled amid the Israel-Hamas war.Bethlehem is home to the Church of the Nativity, believed to be the birthplace of Jesus.Christmas, normally the West Bank town’s busy tourist season, was quiet and subdued this year.
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Bethlehem, the biblical birthplace of Jesus located in the West Bank, is usually packed with tourists during Christmas. Home to sites like the Church of the Nativity, which is believed to be the location of Jesus’ birth, worshippers come from all over the world to celebrate the holiday season in the “little town of Bethlehem,” as the famous Christmas carol goes.
This year, amid the Israel-Hamas war, Bethlehem is a “ghost town,” AP reported. Christian Palestinian leaders canceled public Christmas celebrations, citing the widespread bombing, death, and destruction in Gaza that has killed over 20,000 Palestinians. Access to the West Bank has also remained restricted by Israel since the initial October 7 Hamas attacks that killed about 1,200 Israelis with over 240 taken hostage.
“Our message every year on Christmas is one of peace and love, but this year it’s a message of sadness, grief, and anger in front of the international community with what is happening and going on in the Gaza Strip,” Bethlehem’s mayor, Hana Haniyeh, said in a Christmas address.
Here’s what Christmas in Bethlehem looks like this year.
Ahead of Christmas, the streets of Bethlehem remained bare with no decorative holiday lights or giant Christmas tree.
The old city in Bethlehem, West Bank, on December 14.
Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
“This year, without the Christmas tree and without lights, there’s just darkness,” Brother John Vinh, a Franciscan monk from Vietnam who lives in Jerusalem and spends Christmas in Bethlehem each year, told AP.
Shops that would normally be bustling with Christmas tourists were shuttered.
Closed shops at Manger Square near the Church of the Nativity on December 17 in Bethlehem, West Bank.
Maja Hitij/Getty Images
Around 70% of Bethlehem’s income comes from tourism, AP reported.
Palestinian police officers lined up in Manger Square on Christmas Eve.
Palestinian police officers deploy in the Manger Square outside the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, West Bank, on December 24.
Hazem Bader/AFP via Getty Images
Palestinian police forces assembled ahead of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem’s arrival on Christmas Eve.
Across Bethlehem, art displays expressed solidarity with the people of Gaza.
A Nativity scene in Bethlehem, West Bank.
Maja Hitij/Getty Images
A Nativity scene inside the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem showed baby Jesus wrapped in a keffiyeh and placed in rubble.
Palestinian artist Rana Bishara created an art piece featuring baby Jesus in an incubator, a tribute to newborns in Gaza hospitals without electricity.
Palestinian artist Rana Bishara stands next to her installation of baby Jesus in an incubator at the entrance to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, West Bank.
Hazem Bader/AFP via Getty Images
At Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital, CNN reported in November that premature babies were being wrapped in tin foil and placed next to hot water in order to stay warm after Gaza’s largest hospital experienced power outages and ran out of medical supplies.
Manger Square also featured the art installation “Nativity Under the Rubble” by Palestinian artist Tariq Salsa.
“Nativity Under the Rubble” by Palestinian artist Tariq Salsa in Manger Square near the Church of Nativity on December 23 in Bethlehem, West Bank.
Maja Hitij/Getty Images
The display featured a Nativity scene surrounded by barbed wire and pieces of rubble.
Amid the somber atmosphere, Christmas church services continued as usual.
A Latin bishop gives holy bread to a worshiper during the Christmas midnight Mass at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, West Bank.
Nasser Nasser/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
A Latin bishop gave holy bread to a worshiper during the Christmas midnight Mass at the Church of the Nativity.
Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, led Christmas mass at the Church of the Nativity.
The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Pierbattista Pizzaballa leads a Christmas mass in the Church of the Nativity at Saint Catherine’s Church on December 25 in Bethlehem, West Bank.
Maja Hitij/Getty Images
“If we want it to be Christmas, even in times of war, we all need to increase our actions that speak of brotherhood, peace, acceptance, forgiveness, and reconciliation,” Pizzaballa said in his homily.
A lone worshipper sat in the grotto underneath the church’s High Altar, believed to be the spot where Jesus was born.
A worshiper prays next to grotto at the Church of Nativity on December 25 in Bethlehem, West Bank.
Maja Hitij/Getty Images
Accessible through a narrow stairwell, the small space is usually crowded with visitors.
With Christmas celebrations cancelled, the church was much emptier than usual.
A worshiper stands in empty Church of Nativity on December 25 in Bethlehem, West Bank.
Maja Hitij/Getty Images
“I’ve been here several times, and it’s quite a unique Christmas, as usually there’s a lot of people and a lot of celebrations,” Dr. Joseph Mugasa, a pediatrician visiting from Tanzania, told AP. “But you can’t celebrate while people are suffering, so we are sad for them and praying for peace.”
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