Faith leaders and residents in Bethlehem are grappling with how to mark the festive holiday while fellow Palestinians continue to be killed.

Bethlehem marked another somber Christmas Eve on Tuesday in the traditional birthplace of Jesus under the shadow of war in Gaza.

The city of Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the traditional birthplace of Jesus, will not have the usual trappings of the city's favorite holiday: no public Christmas tree, no raucous scouts march,

Hundreds gathered at the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem in the West Bank as the leader of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land marked the second Christmas Midnight Mass under the shadow of the war in Gaza.

For the second consecutive year, the city of Bethlehem in the southern West Bank is commemorating Christmas this year without the usual festive displays, mourning for Gaza amidst the ongoing Israeli genocide that has persisted for nearly 15 months.

With no Christmas tree or decorations adorning the Church of the Nativity, revered as the birthplace of Jesus Christ, holiday cheer was absent in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem on Tuesday.

Later during the Christmas season, you might want to watch the 1949 film Come to the Stable that tells the story of Regina Laudis Abbey and whose main characters, two nuns played by Loretta Young and Celeste Holm, are based on the actual Benedictine nuns who came from France after World War II to establish it. It’s a much neglected classic.

It is already the second Christmas in Bethlehem to be marked by Israel's war in Gaza. Tourists and pilgrims have stopped coming to the city almost altogether, and the economic situation seems even bleaker than last year.

Happiness comes from what happens. Joy comes from a much deeper place, and it doesn’t matter what’s going on around you."

For a second straight year, the war raging in Gaza has kept pilgrims and tourists away from Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, where Christmas tourism makes up about 70% of the city's economy. Imtiaz Tyab has more.