GAZA CITY, Palestine

A high religious authority in Palestine announced on Saturday that this year’s Christmas celebrations would be limited to religious rites due to the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza.

"Christmas celebrations across the Holy Land will only include religious rituals, as was the case last year,” Ramzi Khoury, head of the Higher Presidential Committee for Church Affairs, said in a statement.

Khoury emphasized the importance of Palestinian unity amid the "pain, sorrow, and suffering caused by the genocide being perpetrated against our people in Gaza by the Israeli army’s extensive arsenal."

He called on churches worldwide to "remember in their prayers the children and women of Palestine who have been killed, injured, displaced, or are missing, and those who have been denied the joy of Christmas by the Israeli war machine."

Khoury stressed the urgent need for serious efforts to “halt the genocide and push for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza.”

Last year’s Christmas celebrations were similarly restricted to religious rites due to the Israeli assault on Gaza, which began on Oct. 7, 2023.

Palestinian Christians who follow the Western calendar celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25, while those following the Eastern calendar mark the holiday on Jan. 7.

Israel has launched a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas in October last year, killing more than 44,000 people, most of them women and children, and injuring nearly 104,500.

The International Criminal Court announced in a landmark move on Thursday that it issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on Gaza.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi