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Churches in Israel and the West Bank are canceling Christmas celebrations due to the war
(JTA) — Ordinarily at this time of year, Nabil Totry would be gearing up for one of the biggest productions in Nazareth, Jesus’ childhood home and one of several cities across Israel and the West Bank to go all-out for Christmas.
But this year, as the holiday approached, Totry wondered whether his hometown would be able to celebrate. As president of the city’s Christmas Parade, he knew that the war between Israel and Hamas would require some changes.
The parade is a rollicking annual march that begins at Mary’s Well in Nazareth — next to a bustling Christmas market — and continues down Paul VI Street, which boasts the Church of the Annunciation and a Christmas tree rising more than 50 feet in the air. The city generally mounts a fireworks display early in the evening, followed by a midnight Mass Christian prayer service.
“We were ready to begin calling the annual march a ‘March of Peace’ for fraternity, since we see that all people from all religious backgrounds march together side by side,” Totry said. “We thought about how to establish the Christmas march under the present conditions without canceling it.”
But in the end, Totry did call off the parade, and he is not alone. Against the backdrop of the bloodshed in Gaza and Israel, churches in Nazareth and in cities across Israel and the West Bank have canceled their public celebrations of Christmas.
People gathering at Nazareth’s Christmas tree ahead of the holiday in 2021.(Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images)
The decisions follow the lead of a consortium of Christian leaders in Jerusalem, who last month asked Christians “to stand strong with those facing such afflictions by this year foregoing any unnecessarily festive activities.” In addition to Nazareth, the call affects celebrations in Jerusalem as well as Bethlehem, revered as Jesus’ birthplace.
“We gathered for several weeks with all the involved organizations to negotiate and decide what was possible in light of the current crisis,” Totry said. “Naturally, there were different opinions because Nazareth in the Christmas season is full of activities as the main address for Arab and Jewish citizens from many areas, and Christmas is considered an important economic source for the city.”
Now, Bethlehem — which is usually a bustling attraction this time of year, with Christmas decorations lining the streets leading to Manger Square, where Christian tradition holds that Jesus was born — is bare and empty. But the spirit of the city, located in the West Bank, is less somber than it is heated.
The Nativity scene shows baby Jesus wrapped in a keffiyeh and placed in a pile of rubble to show solidarity with the people of Gaza in the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem, West Bank, Dec. 18, 2023. (Maja Hitij/Getty Images)
Many West Bank Palestinians abhor the war in Gaza, and face increased limits on their freedom of movement coupled with a depressed economy and spiking violence. In a, evocative display that has gained global attention, the Lutheran Church in Bethlehem replaced its traditional nativity manger this year with a depiction of baby Jesus wearing a black-and-white keffiyeh, buried in rubble.
Exacerbating tensions between Israel and the land’s Christians were reports on Saturday of an alleged deadly Israeli attack on a sole Roman Catholic Church in Gaza that has served as a refuge for displaced Christians since the start of the war. Currently, there are approximately 1,000 Christians in Gaza, a drop from a reported figure of 3,000 when Hamas seized control of the strip in 2007.
On Saturday, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Catholic Church’s representative in Israel’s capital, accused Israel of killing a mother and daughter housed at a Catholic church in Gaza. The statement also accused Israel of firing at a convent housing 54 people with disabilities and knocking out its generator. The patriarchate later shared what it said were photos of the attack.
The Israeli army strongly denied the allegations, saying that there were “no reports of a hit on the church, nor civilians being injured or killed.” The IDF added that it “takes claims regarding harm to sensitive sites with the utmost seriousness — especially churches — considering that Christian communities are a minority group in the Middle East.”
So far, the allegations have not been independently verified, and there were no images or video of a funeral for Nahida Anton and her daughter Samar Anton as of Monday.
A Christmas display at the entrance to the Tel Aviv flagship store of Tiv Ta’am, an Israeli supermarket chain known for selling food that doesn’t meet kosher dietary rules. (Asaf Shalev)
But in his Sunday sermon, Pope Francis accepted the initial Palestinian reports and condemned any attack on Gaza churches “where there are no terrorists, but families, children, people who are sick and have disabilities, and nuns.” Francis has called for a ceasefire in the conflict.
Meanwhile, as the fighting continues, Christians across the region are preparing for a subdued holiday. Church leaders and city councils in Haifa and Jaffa have also decided not to decorate public spaces with large Christmas trees this year, and to commemorate Christmas in a more ritual fashion. Non-religious Christmas displays, on the rise in recent years among some secular Jews who see them as akin to Halloween decorations, have also been tamped down.
Amir Badran, a member of the Tel-Aviv Jaffa City Council, said, “There is no holiday spirit in the air, in light of the war in Gaza.”
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The post Churches in Israel and the West Bank are canceling Christmas celebrations due to the war appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Iranian Media Claims Obtaining ‘Sensitive’ Israeli Intelligence Materials
FILE PHOTO: The atomic symbol and the Iranian flag are seen in this illustration, July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
i24 News – Iranian and Iran-affiliated media claimed on Saturday that the Islamic Republic had obtained a trove of “strategic and sensitive” Israeli intelligence materials related to Israel’s nuclear facilities and defense plans.
“Iran’s intelligence apparatus has obtained a vast quantity of strategic and sensitive information and documents belonging to the Zionist regime,” Iran’s state broadcaster said, referring to Israel in the manner accepted in those Muslim or Arab states that don’t recognize its legitimacy. The statement was also relayed by the Lebanese site Al-Mayadeen, affiliated with the Iran-backed jihadists of Hezbollah.
The reports did not include any details on the documents or how Iran had obtained them.
The intelligence reportedly included “thousands of documents related to that regime’s nuclear plans and facilities,” it added.
According to the reports, “the data haul was extracted during a covert operation and included a vast volume of materials including documents, images, and videos.”
The report comes amid high tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, over which it is in talks with the US administration of President Donald Trump.
Iranian-Israeli tensions reached an all-time high since the October 7 massacre and the subsequent Gaza war, including Iranian rocket fire on Israel and Israeli aerial raids in Iran that devastated much of the regime’s air defenses.
Israel, which regards the prospect of the antisemitic mullah regime obtaining a nuclear weapon as an existential threat, has indicated it could resort to a military strike against Iran’s installations should talks fail to curb uranium enrichment.
The post Iranian Media Claims Obtaining ‘Sensitive’ Israeli Intelligence Materials first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Retrieves Body of Thai Hostage from Gaza
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz looks on, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Jerusalem, Nov. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
The Israeli military has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage who had been held in Gaza since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday.
Nattapong Pinta’s body was held by a Palestinian terrorist group called the Mujahedeen Brigades, and was recovered from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified.
Pinta, an agricultural worker, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small Israeli community near the Gaza border where a quarter of the population was killed or taken hostage during the Hamas attack that triggered the devastating war in Gaza.
Israel’s military said Pinta had been abducted alive and killed by his captors, who had also killed and taken to Gaza the bodies of two more Israeli-American hostages that were retrieved earlier this week.
There was no immediate comment from the Mujahedeen Brigades, who have previously denied killing their captives, or from Hamas. The Israeli military said the Brigades were still holding the body of another foreign national. Only 20 of the 55 remaining hostages are believed to still be alive.
The Mujahedeen Brigades also held and killed Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, according to Israeli authorities. Their bodies were returned during a two-month ceasefire, which collapsed in March after the two sides could not agree on terms for extending it to a second phase.
Israel has since expanded its offensive across the Gaza Strip as US, Qatari and Egyptian-led efforts to secure another ceasefire have faltered.
US-BACKED AID GROUP HALTS DISTRIBUTIONS
The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade of the enclave, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling.
Aid distribution was halted on Friday after the US-and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said overcrowding had made it unsafe to continue operations. It was unclear whether aid had resumed on Saturday.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution which the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral. It says it has provided around 9 million meals so far.
The Israeli military said on Saturday that 350 trucks of humanitarian aid belonging to U.N. and other international relief groups were transferred this week via the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza.
The war erupted after Hamas-led terrorists took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the October 7, 2023 attack, Israel’s single deadliest day.
The post Israel Retrieves Body of Thai Hostage from Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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US Mulls Giving Millions to Controversial Gaza Aid Foundation, Sources Say
Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
The State Department is weighing giving $500 million to the new foundation providing aid to war-shattered Gaza, according to two knowledgeable sources and two former US officials, a move that would involve the US more deeply in a controversial aid effort that has been beset by violence and chaos.
The sources and former US officials, all of whom requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that money for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) would come from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which is being folded into the US State Department.
The plan has met resistance from some US officials concerned with the deadly shootings of Palestinians near aid distribution sites and the competence of the GHF, the two sources said.
The GHF, which has been fiercely criticized by humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations, for an alleged lack of neutrality, began distributing aid last week amid warnings that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli aid blockade, which was lifted on May 19 when limited deliveries were allowed to resume.
The foundation has seen senior personnel quit and had to pause handouts twice this week after crowds overwhelmed its distribution hubs.
The State Department and GHF did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Reuters has been unable to establish who is currently funding the GHF operations, which began in Gaza last week. The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to transport aid into Gaza for distribution at so-called secure distribution sites.
On Thursday, Reuters reported that a Chicago-based private equity firm, McNally Capital, has an “economic interest” in the for-profit US contractor overseeing the logistics and security of GHF’s aid distribution hubs in the enclave.
While US President Donald Trump’s administration and Israel say they don’t finance the GHF operation, both have been pressing the United Nations and international aid groups to work with it.
The US and Israel argue that aid distributed by a long-established U.N. aid network was diverted to Hamas. Hamas has denied that.
USAID has been all but dismantled. Some 80 percent of its programs have been canceled and its staff face termination as part of President Donald Trump’s drive to align US foreign policy with his “America First” agenda.
One source with knowledge of the matter and one former senior official said the proposal to give the $500 million to GHF has been championed by acting deputy USAID Administrator Ken Jackson, who has helped oversee the agency’s dismemberment.
The source said that Israel requested the funds to underwrite GHF’s operations for 180 days.
The Israeli government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The two sources said that some US officials have concerns with the plan because of the overcrowding that has affected the aid distribution hubs run by GHF’s contractor, and violence nearby.
Those officials also want well-established non-governmental organizations experienced in running aid operations in Gaza and elsewhere to be involved in the operation if the State Department approves the funds for GHF, a position that Israel likely will oppose, the sources said.
The post US Mulls Giving Millions to Controversial Gaza Aid Foundation, Sources Say first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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