BETHLEHEM (Dispatches) – Hundreds of people gathered at the Church of the Nativity in the holy city of Bethlehem on Tuesday to mark another solemn Christmas overshadowed by the war in Gaza.
Missing for a second consecutive year were the festive decorations, and the crowd paled in comparison to the throngs of tourists and pilgrims of Christmases past -- a reflection of the somber mood as the war by the Zionist regime against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip drags on.
At Manger Square, the heart of the Palestinian city dominated by the revered church that marks the site where Christians believe Jesus Christ was born, a group of scouts held a small parade that broke the morning’s silence.
“Our children want to play and laugh,” read a sign carried by one of them, as his friends whistled and cheered.
The Zionist regime’s aggression on Gaza, the deadliest in the occupying regime’s history, resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
Meanwhile, cutting through the uncharacteristic darkness and silence, faint Christmas music drifts through the center of Beirut’s suburb of Hadath.
The town is still reeling from the Zionist regime’s two-month war on Lebanon. Local scouts, attempting to bring as much holiday cheer as they can, organized a small Christmas party in a vocational center.
Children had their faces painted, teenagers distributed food and young boys competed on a punching machine.
Dania Sabbagh, the centre’s owner, told Middle East Eye that they hosted this event “because there are no decorations and no life at all”.
“I work here, and usually there are parades and [other festivities],” she said.
This year, decorations are nearly non-existent, and just a few meters away from the scouts’ party, the only sounds present are the occasional ringing of church bells in the rain.
Christian-majority Hadath is located next to Beirut’s southern suburbs, colloquially known as Dahiyeh, which were subjected to heavy bombing by the Zionist regime during the war.
“We were kind of a disaster area with no one here,” Viviane Karam, a giftshop owner in the town who specializes in preparing presents for major occasions, told MEE.
The Zionist regime’s war on Lebanon began as border clashes on 8 October 2023, a day after the war on Gaza started.
The conflict escalated significantly when the Zionist regime launched a widespread bombing campaign and a ground invasion of Lebanon in September that eventually calmed down after a ceasefire agreement was signed in November.
Over 4,000 people were killed in Lebanon, with at least 84 percent of the fatalities occurring since September.
Hadath also suffered some damage from strikes. Glass shattered in homes and churches, while other buildings sustained more severe damage.
“Lots of families lost their homes, or at least the glass,” said Karam.
Many of Hadath’s residents, including Karam, temporarily left their homes for safer areas during the war.
Hoping the ceasefire would help her recover from the war’s financial woes, Karam saw little business return to the war-torn area.
“There is not much work,” she said as she was preparing some gift boxes. “Usually, in these times, we would be preparing [gifts] for engagements, baptisms, etc. Now, there are no occasions except for childbirths.”
Hadath’s mayor, George Aoun, told MEE that the municipality had not organized any holiday activities this year but would support any individual initiatives.
“The mayor was not focused on decorations. I think he was focusing more on supporting the families that were most affected [by the war],” Karam said.