For the second straight year, Bethlehem’s Christmas celebrations will be somber and muted, in deference to war in Gaza.

The Nativity Store in Manger Square in Bethlehem has sold handmade olive wood carvings and religious items to pilgrims visiting the Church of the Nativity, where Christianity holds Jesus was born, since 1927.

On Bethlehem's Manger Square, Christmas decorations and pilgrims are notably absent for a second wartime festive season in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city.Violence across the Israeli-occupied West Bank has surged since the war in Gaza broke out on October 7 last year,

Dearth of tourism since Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack leaves West Bank city with empty streets, empty shops and empty guestrooms at what should be most wonderful time of the year The post Somber Bethlehem readies for another Christmas under shadow of war appeared first on The Times of Israel.