Youssef Tarazi (31 years old), a Palestinian Christian, said, “Churches have suspended all celebrations outside their walls due to the circumstances that Gaza is going through.” M.E. “We celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ through prayer within the church only, but our joy remains incomplete.”
“This year, we cannot celebrate while still mourning those who were killed, including during attacks on churches,” Tarazi said. “Nothing is the same anymore. Many members of our community will not be with us this Christmas.”
The IDF, Israeli officials and leaders in the United States and other countries that supported Israel’s offensive on Gaza have insisted that the military targeted Hamas and its infrastructure, but Christian churches are among the places — along with schools, refugee camps, hospitals and other civilian buildings — that have been under attack since 2023.
At least 16 people were killed a few days into the war when the IDF bombed the Church of St. Porphyrios, one of the oldest churches in the world. In July, Israel attacked Gaza’s only Catholic church, killing two women and wounding several other people.
Palestinian officials He says At least 44 Christians were among more than 71,000 Palestinians killed since Israel began its offensive in response to the Hamas-led attack. Some were killed in air strikes and sniper attacks, while others were among those who died from disease and malnutrition as Israel imposed a blockade that continues to limit food and medical supplies allowed into Gaza.
UN experts, international and Israeli human rights groups and Holocaust experts were among those who called the Israeli attack genocide, and the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant last year for Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
George Antoun, Director of Operations The Latin Patriarchate in Gaza estimated that the number of Christians killed so far has reached at least 53 people, many of whom are dying “because we could not reach hospitals or provide medicine, especially the elderly who suffer from chronic diseases.”
In the past, Muslims in Gaza joined Christian neighbors in the annual lighting of Gaza City’s Christmas tree and other ceremonies, and churches displayed elaborate lights and decorations in their courtyards for the Christmas season.
“We decorated our homes,” Anton said. M.E. “Now, many houses have disappeared. We have decorated the streets. Even the streets have disappeared… There is no reason to celebrate.”
He added: “We cannot celebrate while Christians and Muslims alike mourn the heavy losses caused by the war.” “For us, the war is not over.”
Hilda Ayad, a volunteer who helped decorate Sagrada Familia earlier this month, said: The island That “we don’t have the opportunity to do all the things here in the church, but something better than last year because we didn’t celebrate last year.”
About 1,000 Christians, most of them Greek Orthodox or Catholic, were living in Gaza before the start of the latest Israeli escalation in the Strip in 2023.
Member of the Greek Orthodox Church, Elias Al-Fair, and Bishop Fathallah Hanna, head of the Diocese of the Church in Sebastia in Jerusalem. He said the The Washington Post The population has decreased by almost half. More than 400 Christians have fled Gaza over the past two years. Those who remained often took refuge in churches, including those that had been subjected to attacks.
Al-Jalda said to mail This year’s celebrations “will not be full of joy, but rather an attempt to renew life.”
In Bethlehem in the West Bank, officials sought to send a message to the world this Christmas that “peace is the only path in the land of Palestine,” said Bethlehem Mayor Hanna Hanania. He said Anatolia Agency.
He said, “This year’s celebrations carry a message of hope and steadfastness for our people and a message to the world that the Palestinian people love peace and life.”
in The island, Palestinian priest Rev. Dr. Munther Ishaq books And that “celebrating this season does not mean that war, genocide, or apartheid structures have ended.”
“People are still being killed. We are still besieged,” he wrote. “Instead, our celebration is an act of resilience – a declaration that we are still here, that Bethlehem remains the capital of Christmas, and that the story this city tells must continue.”
Isaac continued: “This Christmas, our call to the global church – and Western Christians in particular – is to remember where the story began. To remember that Bethlehem is not a myth but a place where people still live.” “If the Christian world is to respect the meaning of Christmas, it must turn its gaze to Bethlehem – not to the imagined Bethlehem, but to the real city, the city whose inhabitants today still cry out for justice, dignity and peace.”
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