In most years, by this time, the celebrations of the glorious holidays have long been underway in Gaza. The Gaza Strip is a small area inhabited by 2,300,000 citizens, between 1,000 and 1,300 of them Christians who live in safety and peace among the Muslim majority.

Some say that the community is in danger of losing its 1,600-year foothold in the enclave and that it is far from certain those who have fled will ever feel safe enough to return home.

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.

For more than a year, undeterred by the intense heat or heavy downpours, a number of people have gathered each week on the steps of the St. George’s Cathedral in protest over the mass murder in Gaza by Israel,