Gaza Will Mark Christmas With Silent Bells, Frozen Nights, and Grief
By Dalia Abu Ramadan , Truthout
Published December 24, 2025
A man walks past homes and buildings destroyed by the Israeli military in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, on December 13, 2025. Heavy rain has flooded tents and temporary shelters across Gaza, compounding the suffering of the territory's residents, nearly all of whom were displaced during more than two years of war. Eyad Baba / AFP via Getty Images
For the third consecutive year, Christmas will pass in Gaza without lights and without fanfare. Bells will not ring, and decorations that once briefly softened the Strip’s pain will be absent from streets long familiar with loss. In 2023, Christmas arrived in Gaza under the weight of fear and terror, at a time when the war had been ongoing for only two months. Back then, many Palestinians — Muslims and Christians alike — believed it was impossible for a new year to begin while the war was still underway. There was a shared sense of hope that 2024 would bring the war to an end.
I clearly remember how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement — declaring that 2024 would be “a year of war” — was met with disbelief and mockery. The assumption was that the world would not allow such a reality to unfold. What followed, however, surpassed even our darkest expectations. Now, after more than two years, Gaza faces the end of 2025, and Christmas — which some Palestinian Christians observe on December 25, while many others observe in January, in accordance with the Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic Church calendars — arrives after a so-called end to the war. Yet the reality on the ground raises disturbing questions about what this “ceasefire” truly means.
The streets that have gone undecorated for the third year in a row are darker and more devastated than ever. While the pace of mass killing has slowed, the consequences of war remain deeply embedded in our daily lives: Infants have frozen to death, acute malnutrition is pervasive, and many are living in tents that flood during storms.
What does this season mean for Gaza’s Christian community, who once marked Christmas with faith and resilience? And what does it mean for Muslim Palestinians, who were accustomed to sharing this moment — to see the Christmas tree lit, and to witness our neighbors’ joy? In Gaza, Christmas will arrive without lights, without warmth, and burdened by a war that has not truly ended, even if its cessation has been officially announced.
https://truthout.org/articles/gaza-will-mark-christmas-with-silent-bells-frozen-nights-and-grief/
