Gaza City, December 25, 2025 — Christmas Day dawned in Gaza not with bells and hymns, but with the thud of Israeli bombardment and the constant hum of surveillance drones slicing through the night sky, drowning out what little remained of festive cheer for the enclave’s embattled Christian community.
According to Al Jazeera journalists on the ground in Gaza City, explosions echoed from the eastern parts of the territory into the early hours of Christmas morning, underscoring the fragility of the much-vaunted ceasefire. For Palestinian Christians — already a tiny and shrinking minority — the holy day was marked by fear, mourning and prayer rather than celebration.
Churches across Gaza either drastically scaled back Christmas activities or cancelled them altogether. Public processions, carols and communal feasts were replaced by quiet, private prayers held behind church walls. “There was no true sense of celebration,” reported Al Jazeera correspondent Hani Mahmoud, describing a sombre atmosphere heavy with grief and uncertainty.
While Gaza’s Christians struggled to observe one of the most sacred days in their calendar, international outrage mounted over Israel’s broader actions in the occupied Palestinian territories. Fourteen countries — including Britain, Canada, Denmark and France — issued a joint condemnation of Israel’s approval of 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, warning that the move was illegal under international law and threatened not only the Gaza ceasefire but also “long-term peace and security across the region”.
The muted Christmas unfolded against the backdrop of staggering human loss. Since October 2023, Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 70,942 Palestinians and wounded 171,195, according to reported figures. Entire neighbourhoods have been reduced to rubble, families wiped out, and places of worship — churches and mosques alike — damaged or destroyed.
On the Israeli side, the October 7, 2023 attacks left 1,139 people dead, with about 200 taken captive, an event Israel cites as the trigger for its military campaign. More than two years on, the war shows little sign of delivering peace, instead entrenching cycles of violence and despair.
For Gaza’s Christians, Christmas 2025 will be remembered not for joy or renewal, but as yet another chapter in a long season of suffering — a holy day overshadowed by bombs, drones and the relentless toll of a war that spares no faith, no family, and no future.
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