Christmas Returns To Bethlehem After Two Years Of War

Thousands returned to the Israeli-controlled West Bank Wednesday to celebrate Christmas after a two-year hiatus following the Israel-Hamas war.

Although Bethlehem has maintained a small Christian population throughout the war, this marked the first full celebration with parades, Christmas tree lightings and a message at the birthplace of Jesus of Nazareth since the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack, according to the Associated Press (AP).

Celebrations started at the beginning of the month, and approximately 7,000 people attended a Dec. 8 Christmas tree-lighting ceremony in Manger Square, according to El País English. (RELATED: ‘Murder Masquerading As Medicine’: Senate Ignores Bill On CCP’s Christian Organ Harvesting)

The scout parade, which consists of locals representing different parts of the West Bank, actually continued during the past two years, according to the AP. Scouts protested the war by marching in silence.

On Wednesday, the parade was back in full force, and participants played bagpipes and drums to the gathering crowd around Star Street, according to AFP.

An aerial view shows scouts marching during Christmas eve celebrations on Manger Square outside the Church of the Nativity (unseen) in Bethlehem, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on December 24, 2025. (Photo by HAZEM BADER / AFP via Getty Images)

“Today is full of joy because we haven’t been able to celebrate because of the war,” one 17-year-old participant told AFP while wearing her yellow and blue uniform.

The mayor detailed to El País why the Christmas celebrations were brought back.

“After two years of silence, we decided to rekindle hope and the Christmas spirit to strengthen people’s resilience. Many people lost hope, and when that happens, it’s the end,” Mayor Maher Nicola Canawati told the outlet.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the head of the Catholic Church in Jerusalem, led a traditional procession from Jerusalem to Bethlehem following a pre-Christmas Mass with Gaza’s small Christian community, according to the AP.

“We, all together, decide to be the light, and the light of Bethlehem is the light of the world,” Pizzaballa said to the thousands in attendance, calling for “a Christmas full of light.”

Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Italian Pierbattista Pizzaballa poses for a photograph with a man dressed up as Santa Claus as he is welcomed by pilgrims, tourists and Palestinians upon arrival to lead the Christmas Mass in the Church of the Nativity in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, believed to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, on December 24, 2025. Palestinian Scouts marched under a clear blue sky in Bethlehem on December 24, 2025, as the Palestinian city emerged from the shadow of the war in Gaza to celebrate its first festive Christmas in more than two years. Throughout the Gaza war that began with Hamas’s attack on Israel in October 2023, a somber tone marked Christmases in Bethlehem, the biblical birthplace of Jesus Christ. (Photo by HAZEM BADER / AFP via Getty Images)

While most of those in attendance were locals of the roughly 80% Muslim-majority city — which depends on tourism-related business — some foreigners were also in attendance, the AP reported.

“I came because I wanted to better understand what people in Palestine are going through, and you can sense people have been through a very hard time,” a French visitor told the outlet. She added that loved ones had cautioned her against celebrating Christmas in Bethlehem.

“Christmas is like hope in very dark situations,” she said.

As the war brought security and financial troubles, nearly 4,000 people have left Bethlehem in the hopes of finding a better life, the AP reported.

“Today is a day of joy, a day of hope, the beginning of the return of normal life here,” a local tour guide and generational Christian of Bethlehem told the outlet.

At midnight leading into Christmas, many believers will gather in the grotto in Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity to sing praises to God, according to the AP.

“You can see the town come alive again,” a resident of Bethlehem told the AP. “Everyone’s happy, everyone’s coming out to celebrate. No matter religion, no matter their stance, everyone is here.”