Christmas festivities were effectively scrapped in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, revered as the birthplace of Jesus Christ, with few worshippers or tourists on the usually packed streets.

Fadi Sayegh — whose family has previously received permits to travel to Bethlehem for celebrations — said he would not be celebrating Christmas this year.

"There is no joy. No Christmas tree, no decorations, no family dinner, no celebrations," he said while undergoing dialysis. "I pray for this war to be over soon."

"All Christmas celebrations have been canceled," Sister Nabila Salah from the Catholic Holy Church in Gaza told Agence France-Presse. "How do we celebrate when we are… hearing the sound of tanks and bombardment instead of the ringing of bells?"

This year, the city is almost deserted, with few worshippers around and no Christmas tree erected, after church leaders decided to forego "any unnecessarily festive" celebrations in solidarity with Gazans.

The Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, arrived Sunday at the Church of the Nativity, clad in the traditional black and white keffiyeh.

Pizzaballa addressed the people of Gaza during midnight mass.

"We won't abandon you," he said at the Church of Saint Catherine.

"Their suffering ceaselessly cries out to the whole world," he said.

"Thousands of people have been deprived of their basic needs; they are hungry, and they are even more exposed to incomprehensible violence."

In normal years, a festive parade wakes the city up with bagpipes and tamborines.

But this year, people took to the streets silently.

"We want life, not death," proclaimed one of the banners carried by children through the streets.

"A lot of people are dying for this land," Nicole Najjar, an 18-year-old student in the city's deserted Manger Square, said.

"It's really hard to celebrate while our people are dying," she said.

A work of art evoking the tragedy of the war has been installed on the ground opposite the Church of the Nativity, taking the place of the life-size nativity scene and colossal Christmas tree that would normally be there.

The head of the United Nations refugee agency, Filippo Grandi, called for an end to the suffering.

"A humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza is the only way forward," he wrote on X. "War defies logic and humanity, and prepares a future of more hatred and less peace."

Long war

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday the war was exacting a "very heavy price," as the death toll of soldiers killed in the conflict continued to mount.

"But we have no choice but to keep fighting," he said, adding: "This will be a long war."

The army said Monday two more soldiers had been killed, taking to 17 the number of troops killed since Friday and 156 since Israel's ground assault began on 27 October.

Israeli military spokesperson Jonathan Conricus indicated that forces were close to gaining control in northern Gaza and that now "we focus our efforts against Hamas in southern Gaza."

Meanwhile, Israeli officials said the bodies of five Israeli soldiers held hostage by Hamas terrorists and declared dead earlier this month, have been recovered from a Hamas tunnel underneath Gaza, MSNBC reported.

The bodies, which are being brought back to Israel, were discovered by Israeli Defense Force troops while clearing the Hamas tunnels in northern Gaza, according to MSNBC.

The Hamas terrorists are still holding hostage 135 abductees in Gaza, including 116 men, 19 women and 11 foreigners, according to the Israeli ministry of foreign affairs.

At least 18 of the abductees are no longer alive and Hamas is holding their bodies.              

WITH AFP