No Christmas tree, no lights, few people and rain: little is what usually happens at Christmas in Bethlehem. Normally, crowds of tourists come to the birthplace of Jesus every year to celebrate Christmas.
Instead, dozens of security forces patrolled the empty daycare plaza on Sunday. Souvenir shops also opened hesitantly as almost no visitors were expected. “This year, without a Christmas tree and without lights, there is only darkness,” Brother John Vinh, a Franciscan monk from Vietnam who has lived in Jerusalem for six years, told the AP. This year, Vinh says, the sight of baby Jesus in manger square was worrying. This reminds him of the many children who have fallen victim to the fighting between Israel and Hamas.
Blow to the economy
The restaurant's owner, Ala'a Salameh, also told the news agency that he could not justify putting up a tree when many other people lost everything. Christmas Eve is usually the busiest day of the year. “Normally there is no place to sit, we are packed from morning to midnight.” This year, only one table was occupied by journalists taking a break from the rain. Salameh estimated that it would take another year after the end of the war for tourism in Belém to return to normal.
The cancellation of Christmas celebrations is a severe blow to Belém's economy. Tourism is responsible for around 70% of the city's revenue – most of it during the Christmas season.
APA/AFP/Hazem Bader Where thousands of tourists usually stroll, there is now a void in Praça da Natividade, in Belém
Since many major airlines have canceled flights to Israel, only a few foreigners come to visit. According to local authorities, more than 70 hotels in Belém were forced to close, leaving thousands of people unemployed.
Minimal religious celebrations
The fighting in Gaza has also affected life in the West Bank. Since Hamas' attack on Israeli civilians on October 7, access to Bethlehem and other Palestinian cities in Israeli-occupied territory has been difficult. Long lines of cars wait to pass through military checkpoints.
Given the situation, religious celebrations have also been severely restricted. A much smaller than usual Christmas procession began on Sunday, led by the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem to the Church of the Nativity. Cardinal Pierbatista Pizzaballa, as the highest representative of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land, was accompanied only by a few Franciscans and a few other faithful on the short journey to Bethlehem, a few kilometers to the south.
Ground operations in the Gaza Strip expanded
Despite the holidays, fighting in Gaza continues. Israel's army said it was expanding its ground operations over the weekend. Army spokesman Daniel Hagari said troops were involved in “complex battles in densely populated areas.” In doing so, they would penetrate other Hamas strongholds. The military also claimed to have killed a senior Hamas official responsible for supplying weapons.
Fighting in the Gaza Strip
The Israeli army said it expanded its ground operations in the Gaza Strip over the weekend. So far, ground forces have destroyed or confiscated around 30,000 explosive devices, including anti-tank missiles and rockets owned by the Islamist group Hamas.
Soldiers continued to fight in densely populated areas such as the southern city of Chan Yunis, tracking “terrorist infrastructure,” especially in underground tunnels, the army spokesman said. The technical forces were therefore significantly increased. The capabilities of the division fighting there would be further expanded in the coming days. Destroying the tunnels would be time-consuming.
Biden insisted on protecting the civilian population
According to a White House statement, US President Joe Biden discussed “the objectives and phases” of Israel's military action in the Gaza Strip in a telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Biden emphasized the “critical need” to protect the civilian population and those supporting the humanitarian aid operation. It was very important to allow civilians to leave combat areas, they said. Biden and Netanyahu also discussed the importance of releasing all remaining hostages, the White House said.
On Sunday, Netanyahu rejected a report that Israel was refraining from expanding the war into Lebanon due to US pressure. The Wall Street Journal reported that Netanyahu was persuaded by Biden not to attack the Islamic Hezbollah militia in Lebanon. “I have seen false publications that claim that the US has prevented and is preventing us from operating in the region,” said Netanyahu. “That’s not true. Israel is a sovereign state.”
Fighting in the north continues
Thus, fighting continued in the north of the Gaza Strip on Sunday. Fighting continues in the area around the northern coastal town of Jabalya, Palestinian residents and media reported. The area was bombed by the Israeli Air Force during the night. Israel says it has placed the northern Gaza Strip almost completely under its control.