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.

As Christmas arrives, the small Christian community in the Gaza Strip is again facing a season mired in war. Once a time marked by family gatherings, decorations and liturgies, the holiday this year will be spent in makeshift shelters in partially destroyed churches standing amid the ruins of a war-torn enclave.

Bethlehem prepared Tuesday to mark another somber Christmas in the traditional birthplace of Jesus under the shadow of war in Gaza . The excitement and cheer that typically descends on the Palestinian town in the occupied West Bank on Christmas were nowhere to be found: The festive lights and giant tree that normally decorate Manger Square were missing.