Bethlehem held its first public Christmas Eve tree-lighting since the Gaza war began in 2023, drawing thousands of local residents but few international visitors. A U.S.-brokered ceasefire encouraged officials to resume public celebrations after two years of cancellations. The tourism collapse has devastated the local economy — unemployment has risen to as much as 70% and hotels remain largely empty. Church leaders and business owners urged pilgrims and tourists to return to help restore hope and livelihoods.
Bethlehem Lights Christmas Tree Again After Gaza War — Locals Return, Tourists Largely Absent
Members of the clergy take part in the yearly Christmas procession outside the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem on Dec. 24, 2025. / Credit: Ilia Yefimovich /AFP via Getty Images
Thousands of residents from nearby towns and villages gathered in Bethlehem's historic Manger Square for the city's annual Christmas Eve tree-lighting — the first public celebration there since the Gaza war began in 2023. The event, usually marked by large international crowds, was notable this year for the near absence of foreign visitors.
International tourists and Christian pilgrims largely stayed away after Hamas' deadly attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the subsequent fighting in Gaza. For two years, many public Christmas events in Bethlehem were canceled by church authorities amid the instability.
With a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in place this year, Bethlehem Mayor Maher Canawati said officials felt it was the right moment to invite worshippers and visitors back to the place where the Christmas story is believed to have begun.
"Bethlehem, you know, we are living from tourists, from tourism and from pilgrims who come to stay in our hotels, to eat in our restaurants, to buy our souvenirs that we're producing here,"
Canawati said. "And there was a complete halt on tourism for the past two years."
In peacetime, the 4th-century Church of the Nativity — one of Christianity's oldest and most revered sites — could receive roughly 15,000 visitors a day. The prolonged absence of tourists has devastated Bethlehem's tourism sector and much of the local economy, driving unemployment to as high as 70% and leaving hotels with record vacancy rates.
The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, leads the yearly Christmas procession outside the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem on Dec. 24, 2025. / Credit: ilia yefimovich /AFP via Getty Images
Local shop owner Muhammad Abu Jurah, whose family has run a souvenir business in Bethlehem for generations, said the downturn forced him to lay off all six of his employees.
"We don't have a lot of tourists because, you know, the war,"
he said. "So, this is why they have a big problem in Bethlehem without tourists."
Longtime tour guide Matthew Qasis said he had never seen the city so quiet. He appealed directly to Christians around the world: "Come back, because Bethlehem belongs to everyone, and Bethlehem is a message of love and peace."
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Catholic Church's senior representative in the Holy Land and Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, opened the holiday observances with the traditional procession from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. Addressing the crowd in Manger Square, he said:
"After two years of darkness, we need light. We, all together, decide to be the light, and the light of Bethlehem is the light of the world."
While this year's ceremony marked a hopeful step toward normalcy, local leaders and clergy emphasized that the city's recovery depends on the return of international pilgrims and tourists to restore livelihoods and sustain Bethlehem's centuries-old Christian community.
