After hiding in a church for 50 days, Manerva Alqibti had to come to terms with the belief she was going to die there — crammed in with 600 people.
Manerva was huddled with more than 30 members of her family in the Holy Family Church in Gaza City as Israel’s unrelenting bombardment continued.
"All we could hear was [the sound of] explosion over our heads from the planes and explosion on the ground from the tanks," she tells SBS News in Arabic.
She says that every night she spent there, she was engulfed with "stress, terror, fear".
"I would wake up constantly to check whether my sister and mum were still alive."
If Jesus was born alive today, he would be born in Gaza under the rubble.Munther Isaac
A fortnight ago, she says she defied death as she arrived in Sydney with her mother, sister, and nephew .
After spending nearly two months hiding in a church in Gaza, Manerva turns to her faith once again in a church in Sydney's west where she prays for a better tomorrow for her people.
"There were corpses just strewn on the roadside ... I huddled around my mum and sister, just praying that we would survive for long enough to pass through the crossing [to safety]."
No birthday celebrations for Jesus in his homeland
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, 18,787 people have been killed in the enclave since 7 October. The ongoing bombardment of Gaza by the Israel Defence Forces has instilled fears in the Palestinian Christian community regarding their existence in the strip.
Only around 1,000 people out of Gaza's 2.4 million population are Christian and, now, many of them are seeking safety in the local churches there.
Those concerns intensified after 18 people were killed in the bombing of the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius, the oldest church in Gaza and the third oldest in the world, dating back to the fourth century.
On 16 December, two Christian women were killed by an Israeli sniper inside the Holy Family Parish where the majority of Christian families have take refuge since the start of the war, according to a statement released by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
The Palestinian territories hold a significant historical connection with Jesus and his birth. Bethlehem, believed to be his birthplace, lies in the West Bank. But this year, churches there have cancelled Christmas celebrations.
A symbolic manger has been installed in Bethlehem's Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church that showed baby Jesus wrapped in a Palestinian keffiyeh among a pile of rubble.
"If Jesus was born alive today, he would be born in Gaza under the rubble," the church's pastor, Munther Isaac, told the Associated Press.
"While the world is celebrating, our children are under the rubble. While the world is celebrating, our families are displaced and their homes are destroyed."
Heavy hearts and a bare Christmas tree
In Nahil Chidiac's home in Sydney's southwest, a bare Christmas tree stands tall.
There are no ornaments, no gold star at the top, and no stack of Christmas presents under it.
Nahil Chidiac, 38, has decided not to decorate her Christmas tree or celebrate the festive season this year, due to the grief she is feeling over the ongoing destruction of Gaza. Source: SBS News / Rayane Tamer
But this year, Nahil, 38, says their "hearts are very heavy".
"We would love to celebrate and be joyful during this time. But unfortunately, with our family stuck in the war ... we don't feel that we have a right to be celebrating in such a high, joyful time," she says.
Her uncle and cousins are sheltering in a Catholic Church in Gaza's north. With her mind preoccupied about their survival, she can't get into the holiday spirit.
Instead, she's preparing to host more than double the people living in her home.
With seven of her cousins expected to arrive in Australia from Gaza, she says it is "a privilege, an honour" to keep them safe under her roof.
But getting them to Australia has proven to be a challenge.
She has sponsored several members of her family from Gaza and now has their visas approved by the federal government.
But unlike Manerva, their names are yet to appear on the Rafah border crossing list.
She waits with bated breath every day to get answers from anyone she can about why they can't leave Gaza.
Every day, Nahil says, is dangerous for the survival of Christians in the strip.
“There’s a big threat of [Christians'] existence within their area. That's what saddens us most. As much as we want [our family] to stay [in Gaza], we also want them safe and sound, and that's why we want to bring them here with us," she says.
"Once [Christians] are gone, there's nothing left ... There's no Christianity left to keep that legacy going."
SBS News understands the government is assisting more than 80 Australian citizens, permanent residents, and family members still stuck in Gaza, whose names have been provided to authorities.
So far, 146 Australians and their families have been able to depart Gaza since 7 October.
‘How are we supposed to be happy?'
The Palestinian Christians in Australia group (PCiA) estimates there are around 20,000 Palestinian Christians in Australia, with most of them being based in Sydney and Melbourne.
Many attend Sts Peter and Paul Doonside Church in Sydney's west, where they look to the parish priest, Aziz Abwi, for strength and guidance.
Many Palestinian Christians in Sydney attend Sts Peter and Paul Doonside Church where they recite prayers for peace in Gaza. Source: SBS News
"We're eating and 2.4 million people are hungry. How are we supposed to eat, how are we supposed to be happy? How?" he asks with tears in his eyes.
He agrees there can be no Christmas celebrations when the community is "daily weeping".
"We pray every day for Gaza. We don't have anybody else to help us in this world, except Him upstairs," he says.
"Christmas is supposed to bring you happiness. But there isn't any happiness to celebrate. There is prayer and there is gratitude to God, but there is no happiness."
Donations instead of gifts
Among the many symbolic gestures of mourning, many Palestinian Christians have agreed to forego gifting this Christmas.
Money typically spent on buying presents has been used instead to donate necessities to Gazans arriving in Australia.
President of the PCiA, Susan Wahhab, says when she found out that family members have been granted Australian visas, the group "went into action mode".
Susan Wahhab, the president of Palestinian Christians in Australia, says the group has been inundated with donations to provide to recent Gazan arrivals. Source: SBS News / Rayane Tamer
A donation drive posted online went viral and the group have been kept busy. For the past fortnight, 20 volunteers have been inundated with necessities such as food, clothing, shoes and hygiene products, to put into boxes for each host family.
"Their houses have been bombed, they've lost everything and they're starting from scratch. We wanted to make their lives easier when they come and stay with their families who have sponsored them," Susan says.
Manerva says she is thankful to the community for welcoming her so warmly into the country.
While she's currently trying to settle into Australian life, she's aware her visa is only temporary and that her safety and future are far from certain.
"There is nothing in Gaza left. My home is gone. My car is gone. Where I grew up with my family, it's all gone. The country is all gone. What am I going to go back to do there?"
