Thousands attended the Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Bethlehem, the first since the war in Gaza began

Thousands of people travel from nearby towns and villages to attend Bethlehem’s annual Christmas Eve tree lighting ceremony in the city’s historic Manger Square. Historically the event was full of joy and surprise, it was the first such event since that time war in Gaza started in 2023. But there were no visitors.

For more than two years, international tourists and Christian Pilgrims have stayed away following the deadly Hamas terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. As the war in Gaza escalates, church leaders cancel Bethlehem’s public Christmas celebrations.

But this year, the Mayor of Bethlehem Maher Canawati, i Trump-brokered ceasefire it was reason enough to try to bring the faithful back to where the story of Christmas began.

“Bethlehem, you know, we live on tourists, from tourism and travelers who come to stay in our hotels, to eat in our restaurants, to buy the souvenirs we make here,” said Canawati. “And there was a complete standstill in tourism in the last two years.”

Inside the 4th-century Church of the Nativity, one of the oldest and holiest Christian sites in the world, about 15,000 visitors arrive every day during quiet hours. The absence of tourists has destroyed Bethlehem’s tourism industry, and almost its entire economy, driving unemployment to 70%. The hotel rooms were at a high standard.

Muhammad Abu Jurah’s family has owned a souvenir shop in Bethlehem for generations. But in the last two years, he has been forced to lay off all six of his employees.

“We don’t have many visitors because you know the war,” he said. “So, that’s why they have a big problem in Bethlehem without visitors.”

Matthew Qasis, who has worked as a tour guide in Bethlehem all his life, says he has never seen the place so quiet.

His message to Christians around the world: “Come back, because Bethlehem belongs to everyone, and Bethlehem is a message of love and peace. A message that is needed now more than ever, and a prayer of hope for the faithful to return to the place where Christmas is believed to have started.”

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the top leader of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land and the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, began the holiday celebrations on Wednesday with a procession from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, the Associated Press reported. Pizzaballa called it “a Christmas full of light.”

“After two years of darkness, we need light,” Pizzaballa told the crowd in Manger Square, where the cardinal brought greetings from Gaza’s small Christian community, where he was holding a Christmas mass early Sunday, the AP reported. “We, all together, decide to be light, and the light of Bethlehem is the light of the world.”