Thousands of people traveled from nearby towns and villages to attend Bethlehem's annual Christmas Eve tree lighting ceremony in the city's historic Manger Square. Historically an event filled with joy and wonder, it was the first such ceremony since the war in Gaza began in 2023. But hardly any tourists were in attendance.

For more than two years, international tourists and Christian pilgrims have largely stayed away following Hamas' deadly terrorist attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. As the war in Gaza raged, church leaders canceled Bethlehem's public Christmas celebrations. 

But this year, for Bethlehem Mayor Maher Canawati, the Trump administration-brokered ceasefire was reason enough to try to bring the faithful back to where the Christmas story began.

"Bethlehem, you know, we are living from tourists, from tourism and from pilgrims who come to stay in our hotels, to eat in our restaurants, to buy our souvenirs that we're producing here," Canawati said. "And there was a complete halt on tourism for the past two years."

Inside the 4th-century Church of the Nativity, one of the world's oldest and most sacred Christian sites, around 15,000 visitors would arrive every day in times of peace. The absence of tourists has devastated Bethlehem's tourism industry, and nearly its entire economy, driving unemployment up to 70%. Hotel vacancies have been at record highs.

Muhammad Abu Jurah's family has run a souvenir shop in Bethlehem for generations. But over the last two years, he's been forced to lay off all six of his staff members.

"We don't have a lot of tourists because, you know, the war," he said. "So, this is why they have a big problem in Bethlehem without tourists."

Matthew Qasis, who has worked as a tour guide in Bethlehem all of his adult life, says he's never seen the area so quiet. 

His message to Christians around the world: "Come back, because Bethlehem belongs to everyone, and Bethlehem is a message of love and peace. A message needed now more than ever, and a prayer of hope that the faithful return to the place where it's believed Christmas began." 

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Catholic Church's top leader in the Holy Land and the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, commenced the holiday celebrations Wednesday during a traditional procession from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, the Associated Press reported. Pizzaballa called for "a Christmas full of light."

"After two years of darkness, we need light," Pizzaballa said to the crowd in Manger Square, to whom the cardinal brought greetings from the small Christian community in Gaza, where he had held an early Christmas mass on Sunday, AP reported. "We, all together, we decide to be the light, and the light of Bethlehem is the light of the world."