No Christmas tree in Bethlehem as holiday pared down over Gaza war

[admin]

There will be no Christmas tree in Bethlehem this year as the traditional site of Jesus' birth holds pared-down celebrations "without the fanfare and without too many lights" in the shadow of the Gaza war. Bethlehem, which neighbours Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank, has been battered by Israeli-Palestinian clashes of years past. Triggered by an Oct 7 killing and kidnapping spree in southern Israel by gunmen from the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, the war has seen much of the impoverished enclave devastated in an Israeli counter-offensive with no end in sight.