Bethlehem in the dark. What happened to the city where Jesus was born to have no joy on Christmas day?

Christmas celebrations were canceled this year, while thousands of pilgrims and pilgrims from around the world crowded Manger Square.

"The city is dark, there is no joy, there are no children, there is no Père Noël/Santa. This year there is no party," said Madeleine, a woman who lives in Bethlehem/Bethlehem, a city in the Jewish-occupied West Bank, Palestine.

The special Christmas tree, known as the Sapin de Noël/Christmas tree, which used to be in the center of the square, is no longer there. There are no Christmas carols, no Christmas gifts for sale.

Instead, a painting of the newborn baby Jesus surrounded by stones and wire was erected as a memorial to the children of Gaza.

In the Church of the Nativity, there is no one inside, a strange situation, Father Eissa Thaldjiya said that his town seems to have ceased to exist.

He said, "I have been a priest at this church for 12 years. I was born in Bethlehem, I had never seen anything like this - even during the coming of Covid things were not like this.

"We have brothers and sisters in Gaza - this is what makes it difficult to celebrate...but it is good to come together in prayer".

Many residents of Gaza say that this Christmas is sad because they did not celebrate it because of the war that Israel inflicted on the Hamas group in Gaza.