War won Christmas. There won’t be Christmas tree this year in Bethlehemas the birthplace of Jesus will this year celebrate Christmas “discreetly and without many lights” in the shadow of the war in Gaza.

In Bethlehem, which borders Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank, many residents have been severely affected from the war in the Gaza Strip, which is 50 kilometers away.

In the first days of December, church leaders meet every year in Bethlehem to herald the beginning of the forty days before Christmas, which usually attracts many tourists.

But this year the streets and squares in this city that is built on a hill they are almost empty.

“We have never seen Bethlehem like this, not even during the pandemic. The city is empty, it’s sad,” Father Ibrahim Faltas, a Franciscan monk, told Reuters in front of the Church of the Nativity.

“Today should be a day of joy,” he added.

Palestinians grieve for the “many children, women, old people, people who were martyred in this crazy war”the priest said.

A statement they issued on November 10 the heads of the churches in the Holy Land sympathizes with people grieving over the “uncertain fate of their loved ones”—a reference to the families and friends of hostages taken by Hamas.