Overview
- Festivities and parades returned to Manger Square for the first full Christmas in more than two years, with crowds gathering beneath the re‑lit tree by the Church of the Nativity.
- Bethlehem’s tourism is slowly reviving after a deep slump, with officials saying about 80% of residents rely on the sector and unemployment spiked from 14% to 65% during the war.
- Gaza’s Christian community kept celebrations limited to services and prayers in shelters, with only a few hundred people remaining and churches continuing to house displaced families.
- Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa visited Gaza and led Mass at Holy Family Church, praising a “desire for a new life” while warning that housing, schools and hospitals remain in crisis.
- Security remains fragile across the territories, with a shaky ceasefire in Gaza and UN data showing record West Bank settler attacks in October as Israel moves to expand settlements.