US EditionThousands Flock to Bethlehem to Revive Christmas Spirit After 2 Years of War in Gaza
Bethlehem's tourism-dependent economy faces 70% unemployment as the city marks its first full Christmas since the Gaza war amid a fragile cease-fire.
- For the first time in three years, Bethlehem hosted large public Christmas celebrations on Dec. 24, with events in Manger Square and at the Church of the Nativity, including a procession from Jerusalem.
- After two years of cancelled festivities due to war, Bethlehem Mayor Maher Nicola Canawati said the fragile ceasefire allowed celebrations to resume despite cancellations in 2023 and 2024 amid the Israel–Hamas war.
- Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, led the procession from Jerusalem and told reporters, `This year we want a Christmas full of light`.
- This Christmas brought hope back to residents who had endured two years without public festivities, though Canawati said many tourism-dependent families remain financially strained and some residents have left.
- Tensions remain high across the West Bank, with attacks by Israeli settlers at their highest level since 2006, and the Israeli government approved 19 new settlements amid fragile ceasefire uncertainties.
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For Palestinian Christians, return of Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem mark opportunity to revive hope
The thousands-year-old Christmas procession from Jerusalem to Bethlehem is finally being celebrated with festive fanfare after a two-year pause to mourn the devastating war in Gaza.
Bethlehem celebrates first festive Christmas since Gaza conflict
BETHLEHEM: Scouts marched under a clear blue sky in Bethlehem on Wednesday, as the Palestinian city emerged from the shadow of the conflict in Gaza to celebrate its first festive Christmas in more than two years. Throughout the Gaza conflict that began with Hamas’s raid on Israel in October 2023, a sombre tone marked Chistmases in Bethlehem, the biblical birthplace of Jesus Christ. But on Wednesday, celebrations were in full swing again in the o…
In front of the Nativity Church of Jesus in Bethlehem, a Christmas tree shines for the first time in years. How pilgrims and church representatives celebrate the feast in the Holy Land.
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