Christmas under occupation: Israeli attacks against Palestinian Christians

Palestinian Christians person gathered astatine the Church of the Nativity successful Bethlehem for the archetypal clip since Israel’s genocidal warfare successful Gaza began successful 2023 to observe Christmas.

Bethlehem’s politician says the municipality has chosen to reconstruct the city’s festivities aft a agelong play of acheronian and silence.

At a Christmas market, Safaa Thalgieh, a parent from Bethlehem, told Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim: “Our joyousness doesn’t mean radical are not suffering, person mislaid their loved ones, oregon are desperate, but we tin lone commune that things get better.”

Palestine: The birthplace of Christianity

Palestinian Christians marque up immoderate of the oldest Christian groups successful the world.

According to the Bible, Mary and Joseph travelled from Nazareth to Bethlehem, wherever Jesus was calved and placed successful a manger. The Church of the Nativity was built astatine this location, and its grotto holds large spiritual significance, attracting Christians from each implicit the satellite to the metropolis of Bethlehem each Christmas.

However, making that travel contiguous would beryllium precise antithetic owed to respective Israeli checkpoints, amerciable settlements, and the separation wall, arsenic highlighted successful the representation below.

Palestinian Christians surviving nether Israeli occupation

Once a thriving community, the fig of Christians surviving successful the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza is present less than 50,000, according to the 2017 census, making up astir 1 percent of the population.

In the aboriginal 20th century, Christians made up astir 12 percent of the population. However, Israel’s amerciable concern of the West Bank has squeezed communities, created economical hardships, and deprived them of the conditions needed to beryllium connected their land, pushing galore families to question a much unchangeable beingness abroad.

A nun surveys dense harm caused to the Church of the Multiplication astatine Tabgha, connected the Sea of Galilee, successful bluish Israel, which was acceptable connected occurrence by Yinon Reuveni, connected June 18, 2015 [Ariel Schalit/AP Photo]

Most of Palestine’s Christians unrecorded successful the West Bank and East Jerusalem, totalling astir 47,000 to 50,000, with an further 1,000 successful Gaza earlier the war.

The Christian colonisation successful the West Bank is highly concentrated successful 3 main municipality areas:

• Bethlehem governorate (22,000–25,000): This is the largest concentration, centred successful Bethlehem and the surrounding towns of Beit Jala and Beit Sahour.
• Ramallah and el-Bireh (10,000): A large administrative and economical hub, including adjacent historical villages similar Taybeh, Birzeit, and Jifna.
• East Jerusalem (8,000–10,000): Primarily located successful the Christian Quarter of the Old City and neighbourhoods similar Beit Hanina.

Like the remainder of the Palestinian population, Palestinian Christians are subjected to Israeli subject control, settler violence, and a ineligible strategy that discriminates against them.

Israeli attacks against Christians and churches

Across Palestine, Christian communities and their churches person faced galore attacks by Israeli forces and members of the Israeli public.

The Religious Freedom Data Center (RFDC) has been monitoring unit against Christians done an incidental hotline operated by volunteers and activists.

Between January 2024 and September 2025, the radical documented astatine slightest 201 incidents of unit against Christians, chiefly committed by Orthodox Jews targeting planetary clergy oregon individuals displaying Christian symbols.

These incidents see aggregate forms of harassment, including spitting, verbal abuse, vandalism, assaults and more.

The bulk (137) of these incidents took spot successful Jerusalem’s Old City, located successful occupied East Jerusalem.

Jerusalem holds profound value to aggregate faiths, including Muslims, Jews, and Christians, and is location to galore beatified sites. One of the astir notable for Christians is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, wherever Christians judge Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected.

In 2025, Christian communities successful the occupied West Bank faced an alarming surge successful targeted unit and onshore seizures.

In the predominantly Christian municipality of Beit Sahour, conscionable eastbound of Bethlehem, Israeli settlers, backed by the military, bulldozed the historical Ush al-Ghurab hilltop successful November to found a caller amerciable colony outpost.

Meanwhile, successful Taybeh, the predominantly Christian municipality successful the West Bank, the past St George Church was targeted by arsonists successful July.

In June, a radical of Israelis was filmed attacking the Armenian Monastery and Christian beatified sites during a raid connected the Armenian Quarter successful the Old City of East Jerusalem, which has travel nether onslaught galore times.

Father Aghan Gogchyan, chancellor of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, stands extracurricular St James Cathedral successful the Armenian Quarter of occupied East Jerusalem [File: Francisco Seco/AP Photo]

In Gaza, galore places of worship, including churches, person been attacked by Israeli forces.

An Open Doors study from aboriginal 2025 estimated that astir 75 percent of Christian-owned homes successful Gaza person been damaged oregon destroyed since the commencement of Israel’s genocidal war.

On October 19, 2023, Israeli forces attacked Gaza’s oldest Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius, sidesplitting astatine slightest 18 displaced people, including children who were seeking structure successful the church.

The church, built successful 1150, was Gaza’s oldest progressive spot of worship and had been serving arsenic a multi-faith sanctuary for hundreds of civilians.

A grief-stricken begetter told Al Jazeera that his 3 children were killed successful the blast. “We sought refuge here, reasoning it was a harmless haven – our past harmless haven, successful a church. The location of God,” helium said. “They bombed my angels and killed them without warning.”

Israeli forces person besides repeatedly attacked the Holy Family Church, Gaza’s lone Roman Catholic church, which has agelong served arsenic a refuge for the section Christian community.

On November 4, 2023, an aerial onslaught connected the religion compound partially destroyed a schoolhouse wrong the complex. The attacks continued successful July 2025, erstwhile an Israeli vessel ammunition struck the church, sidesplitting 3 radical and wounding respective others.

The Holy Family Church has agelong held symbolic value beyond Gaza. Throughout the war, the precocious Pope Francis called the parish astir daily, maintaining a nonstop enactment to the besieged community.