- Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem had been canceled amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.
- Bethlehem is house to the Church of the Nativity, believed to be the birthplace of Jesus.
- Christmas, usually the West Financial institution city’s busy vacationer season, was quiet and subdued this 12 months.
Bethlehem, the biblical birthplace of Jesus positioned within the West Financial institution, is often filled with vacationers throughout Christmas. Dwelling to websites just like the Church of the Nativity, which is believed to be the situation of Jesus’ delivery, worshippers come from all around the world to have fun the vacation season within the “little city of Bethlehem,” because the well-known Christmas carol goes.
This 12 months, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, Bethlehem is a “ghost city,” AP reported. Christian Palestinian leaders canceled public Christmas celebrations, citing the widespread bombing, dying, and destruction in Gaza that has killed over 20,000 Palestinians. Entry to the West Financial institution has additionally remained restricted by Israel because the preliminary October 7 Hamas assaults that killed about 1,200 Israelis with over 240 taken hostage.
“Our message yearly on Christmas is certainly one of peace and love, however this 12 months it is a message of disappointment, grief, and anger in entrance of the worldwide group with what is going on and happening within the Gaza Strip,” Bethlehem’s mayor, Hana Haniyeh, mentioned in a Christmas deal with.
This is what Christmas in Bethlehem seems like this 12 months.
