Reporting from a musical choir performance in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim says Palestinians are marking a sad Christmas.

“A local choir from Bethlehem and Hebron is singing along with Palestinians in Khan Younis from a band called Gaza Birds Singing via an internet connection,” she said.

Displaced teachers and music students in the besieged Gaza Strip formed the band during the conflict to use music as a way to cope with the difficulties amid the ongoing onslaught.

“It was a difficult technical initiative to merge between the singers here and the ones in Gaza; it took more than one hour. The band in Gaza has had to move from the al-Mawasi area in Khan Younis to another area to look for a better internet connection so they could make this musical event work,” Ibrahim said.

“They say they cannot physically meet, but at least virtually they will be singing together. They are sending a message from Bethlehem, Hebron and Gaza, to the world that they are one nation, but they cannot meet.

“They are not singing Christmas carols … one of the songs is called ‘Give us a Childhood’. They want peace. They want to live their childhood. They are marking yet another Christmas with their people undergoing a genocide.”