"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."
"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."
"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"
Christmas in Gaza passes without lights or celebration for the third consecutive year, with streets unadorned and communities bearing deep loss. The war began more than two years earlier, and expectations that it would end quickly proved false after declarations of prolonged conflict. A so-called ceasefire has not restored normalcy; civilians remain displaced, living in tents and temporary shelters that flood during storms. Infants have frozen to death, acute malnutrition is widespread, and basic needs go unmet. Although mass killing has slowed, the physical and societal consequences of war remain pervasive across the territory.
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