Unlike other Christmases, 87-year-old Noha Helmi Tarazi's family won't be visiting her. Israeli bombs killed her sister and brother in Gaza and maimed another sister.

BETHLEHEM, Occupied West Bank — At Christmas, Noha Helmi Tarazi usually decorates her home with a large tree that she describes as bright and joyful symbol of.

The 87-year-old prepares the house and makes Christmas sweets and sumptuous holiday meals for the family who gather here every year. She would usually place gifts for her grandchildren under the Christmas tree, carefully wrapping them and labeling them with their names.

In the birthplace of Jesus Christ, Christmas celebrations are on hold. The decision to cancel Christmas was not taken lightly, but it was one that churches and communities here came together to express their solidarity with Palestinians facing Israeli bombardment and the general siege of the Gaza Strip.

Since the war broke out on October 7, Israeli bombing and artillery fire have killed more than 20,000 people in Gaza, including at least 8,000 children. In the occupied West Bank, more than 300 people have also been killed by Israeli soldiers or settlers who often carry out attacks under the cover of Israeli troops.

The war has brought Bethlehem's tourism industry - a cornerstone of its economy - to a standstill at what is usually its peak time of year. Visitors from around the world usually flock to Bethlehem's markets around Christmas, but this year the streets were deserted.

But even with tourists around, there were no celebrations for Bethlehem residents, many of whom have close family in Gaza.

"How do we celebrate Christmas in the midst of this genocidal war?" asked Tarazi, known to those around her as Um Shadi. "How can we celebrate when the people of Gaza struggle to even have one meal a day?"

The images and news of Gaza suffering under relentless Israeli bombing and ground invasion were too much for her to bear. Um Shadi, whose family lives in Gaza City, said she was particularly disturbed by videos of people fleeing to the sea and being forced to boil seawater for drinking.

She grew up in Gaza City's Remar neighborhood and lived there for her 20s in the 1960s. She had "fond memories" of the sea, where she used to swim at night. People live in peace, she said.

After she graduated from Cairo University with a degree in English literature in 1967, life became even more difficult. Because Gaza was occupied by Israel, she was unable to return to Gaza and spent the next 10 years in Libya, where her brothers also spent 10 years. where she lived and where she met her husband.

She eventually returned to the occupied West Bank, where she made a home and held Christmas ceremonies with her family, traditions she will skip this year.

"May God have mercy on them this Christmas"

All signs of Christmas have disappeared from Bethlehem's streets and homes. Normally, people would flock to the beautifully decorated Manger Square to watch the fireworks. None of that will happen this year.

Many people in Bethlehem and the surrounding area have relatives in Gaza. Umm Shadi himself has lost a brother and a sister since the war began.

Her brother died on October 17 after being unable to undergo life-saving gallbladder surgery due to air strikes on hospitals in the Gaza Strip.

Days later, one of her sisters was killed in an airstrike at St. Porphyrius Greek Orthodox Church, where her family had taken refuge. Another sister lost a leg in the same bombing.

Even before the war, seeing her family had been difficult, but now she can barely talk to them because of Gaza's telecommunications outage.

Before the war, Umm Shadi was unable to attend the funeral of another sister in the enclave because she did not have a permit to travel there. Instead, her niece had to film the ceremony for her.

In happier days, she said, some Christians from Gaza were able to obtain permission from the Israeli authorities to travel from Gaza to Bethlehem during the Christmas season, something her sister and friend Rose often did.

"My sisters used to come to see me and this Christmas I would say, God have mercy on them."

She added that the pain of not being able to communicate with her family in Gaza was unbearable. This brought her to "the brink of despair."

Umm Shadi said Christmas used to be a joyful event that everyone could look forward to every year. Now, that's gone too.

https://min.news/en/world/411fa5a378f2af457f0c4bb836c795ca.html

It goes both ways. Even the Christians in Palestine aren't happy about the killing in Bethlehem.

That's why we always advocate for peace. War lives an everlasting pain and wound that can't easily be forgotten

Oloki:
It goes both ways. Even the Christians in Palestine aren't happy about the killing in Bethlehem.

That's why we always advocate for peace. War lives an everlasting pain and wound that can't easily be forgotten

There are times when conflict is necessary. And it will be irresponsible to insist on peace of the graveyard at that moment.

You can't have dangerous snakes terrorizing human beings and then you start preaching peace to them.

Let me find the Christmas message by Benjamin Netanyahu and you will see

even the Christians In israel too have no joy,
Hama's are still holding some of the kidnapped Israeli's hostage.....

So, like someone said it goes both ways, vice-versa.....Christians in both countries are victims too...
if not for the Israeli's iron dome
The amount of rockets fired from palestine to Israel could have caused even more casualties in Israel....


The day hamas and majority of Palestine's remove hate for Jews and Israelis from there heart,
peace will come naturaly

Oloki:
It goes both ways. Even the Christians in Palestine aren't happy about the killing in Bethlehem.

That's why we always advocate for peace. War lives an everlasting pain and wound that can't easily be forgotten

No killings are going on in Bethlehem. The killings are in Gaza