Christmas is a bleak event in Bethlehem in 2024 as there is no traditional Christmas tree or decorations adorning the Church of the Nativity, revered as Jesus' birthplace.

"Holiday cheer was absent in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem," on Dec. 24, Christmas Eve, AFP reported.

Bethlehem's municipality has gone for modest Christmas celebrations out of respect for Palestinians suffering in Gaza to the west.

But for some, like Jerusalem resident Hisham Makhoul, spending Christmas in the holy city provided an "escape" from the Israel-Hamas war raging for more than 14 months in the Gaza Strip.

Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based news outlet, headline its story: "Bethlehem marks melancholic Christmas for second year in shadow of Gaza war."

It said, "The excitement and cheer that typically descends on the Palestinian town in the occupied West Bank on Christmas are nowhere to be found."

Palestinian scouts marched silently through the streets, a departure from their usual raucous brass marching band.

Security forces arranged barriers near the Church of the Nativity, built atop the spot where Jesus is believed to have been born, The Associated Press reported.

Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Holy Land's top Roman Catholic cleric cited the shuttered shops and empty streets and expressed hope that next year would be better.

"This has to be the last Christmas that is so sad," he told hundreds of people gathered in Manger Square, where normally tens of thousands would congregate.

Yet for some, such as Jerusalem resident Hisham Makhoul, spending Christmas in the holy city provided an "escape" from the Israel-Hamas war that has raged for more than 14 months in the Gaza Strip, said the AFP report.

"What we're going through is very difficult and we can't completely forget about it," said Makhoul of the plight of Palestinians in the besieged territory, which is separated from the West Bank by Israeli territory," said Makhoul.

The patriarchs and church heads in Jerusalem shared a Christmas message amid the continuing conflict and uncertainty in the region in which they said the ancient path of redemption leads humanity in a full-circle to the current time, according to the World Council of Churches.

This is "when wars still rage and untold millions in our region and around the globe continue to suffer grievously, Outwardly, little seems to have changed," reads the message.

The message reflects that the holy birth of Jesus Christ's sparked a spiritual revolution that continues transforming countless hearts and minds toward justice, mercy, and peace.

""For those families of the faithful who have remained in the Holy Land, as well as those who have joined us, it is our privilege to continue to testify to the sacred light of Christ in the very places where He was born, ministered, and offered Himself on our behalf, rising victoriously from the grave to a new resurrected life," reads the message.

"In this hopeful Christmas spirit, we give thanks to the Almighty for the recent ceasefire between two of the warring parties in our region, and we call for it to be expanded into Gaza and many other places, bringing an end to the wars that have plagued our part of the world."