"Jesus in ruins": Christmas was destroyed at the birthplace of Jesus during the war in Gaza

The Christian community of the city is an important place of pilgrimage for Christians. Because they decorate the birthplace of Jesus Christ, houses, alleys and public markets for shopping. Darkness has fallen on Bethlehem this year amid the Israeli regime's war of extermination against Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank.

Christian communities in Bethlehem and the Gaza Strip have decided to cancel their annual Christmas celebrations in solidarity with the victims of the occupation's merciless attacks. These days, the streets of Bethlehem seem empty and most of the markets are closed. The birthplace of Jesus is free from the usual hustle and bustle that comes with Christmas. The death toll in the besieged coastal region is more than 20,000, most of them children and women, but Palestinian Muslims and Christians are grief-stricken and reluctant to attend traditional celebrations.

Isaac Munter, a Palestinian pastor at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, addressed his congregation earlier this month holding a statue of Jesus Christ in a kefiye and said Christmas is "a ray of life that comes from the heart of destruction and death ".

"If Christ were born today, he would be born in a pile of rubble. "May we see the image of Jesus in every child saved from death in the rubble, in every child fighting for life in a destroyed hospital, in every child in an incubator," Pastor Münter said. Fragments.

"The Christmas holiday was destroyed this year, but Christmas itself was not and will not be destroyed. "Because our hope cannot be destroyed," he added. Last week, Pope Francis criticized the Tel Aviv regime for acts of terrorism targeting Palestinians in the Gaza Strip after an Israeli sniper killed two women hiding in a Catholic church in Gaza.

"Some people say, 'This is terrorism.' It's war - yes, it is. It's war. "This is terrorism." The head of the Catholic Church urged people not to forget the victims of the war in Israel. His statement came after Israel attacked the Holy Family Orthodox Church in the Gaza Strip.

There are about 1,100 Christians in Gaza's population of 2.3 million and another 50,000 in the occupied West Bank, mainly in Bethlehem and East Jerusalem. Since October 7, both Muslims and Christians have been the victims of widespread attacks in the Gaza Strip, with many mosques and churches damaged or destroyed by regime fighters.

In late October, Israel struck the Church of St. Porphyry, the oldest church in Gaza and the third oldest in the world, killing at least 16 people, including 10 members of the same family. At the time, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate condemned the attack in a statement, stressing that "the targeting of churches and related institutions, as well as shelters provided to protect innocent civilians, is a war crime that cannot be ignored."

This comes just weeks after the attack on the Al-Ahli Anglican Arab Hospital in northern Gaza, founded in 1882 and run by the Anglican Church of al-Qud in occupied Jerusalem.

Speaking on Democracy Now on Friday, Reverend Mitri Raheb, president of Dar al-Khalima University, said he had never experienced "so much pain" in his life. "There are no Christmas trees in Bethlehem. Tourists won't come because of the war. And people are not ready to celebrate the holidays because not only the people of Gaza but also the people of the West Bank are facing apartheid and colonization by Jewish settlers,” he said.

"This is Israel's Christmas present to the Christian community in Gaza. "I fear this could be the end of the Christian presence in Gaza," he said.

Last November, patriarchs and church leaders in Jerusalem urged Christians to avoid "unnecessary celebrations" and donate Christmas funds to the Gaza Strip as humanitarian aid.

Churches in the occupied West Bank and the municipality of Ramallah also announced they were canceling Christmas holidays and limiting annual events to church services, excluding public holidays. “Every year at this time, we welcome Christmas with joy and love and prepare to decorate the village with Christmas decorations. But today, instead of putting smiles on our children's faces, we make them cry," the report said. "Instead of giving them holiday gifts, we can't send them humanitarian aid while they're being bombed (in Gaza), fighting a war and being destroyed."

Christian communities in many countries have announced they will cancel this year's festivals in solidarity with Palestinian Muslims and Christians and to protest Israel's genocide in Gaza.

"Jesus was a Palestinian revolutionary!" This Christmas, ask yourself, "What would Jesus do?" London-based Press TV presenter David Miller wrote on his X-shaped handle: Filipina activist Mangingisada urged her friends and followers not to wish them a Merry Christmas this year in a social media post.

"As a Christian, I do not accept false greetings from Israeli terrorists. I want the bombing and killing in Gaza and the West Bank to stop. "I want an end to apartheid and squatting," he wrote. Guardian writer Aditya Chakraborty spoke about this in a post on his website.

"As we celebrate the birth of a child in what is now Bethlehem in the West Bank, we must ignore the killing of 10,000 children in Gaza," he wrote.