Celebrations will be kept to a minimum in the birthplace of Jesus as Palestinian Christians recognise the suffering of their ‘brothers and sisters’ in Gaza
In Bethlehem, the West Bank town where Jesus was born, the carol singing has been cancelled, the fairy lights dimmed and the tree never put up.
Christmas will be less festive this year after the churches of the Holy Land demanded a more solemn period of reflection in recognition of the suffering felt by the people of Gaza. Israeli attacks have killed more than 17,000 people there since the Hamas attacks that killed 1,400 Israelis on October 7. In the town’s Lutheran church, the Nativity scene depicts a child buried in rubble.
