Jerusalem: A Santa Claus rode a camel through Jerusalem's Old City to cheer up the locals on Tuesday, as the city prepares to mark a bleak Christmas without tourists or pilgrims.
Storefronts throughout the historic Old City, home to sites holy to the three Abrahamic religions, have been shuttered for months.
People in the Old City, typically busy with tourists, are struggling this year.
Despite the situation, children gathered around the Santa riding a camel.
People also came to pick up Christmas trees distributed by the Jerusalem municipality.
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Meanwhile in Tel Aviv, four people donned Santa Claus outfits and played a beach volleyball game organised by the municipality.
"In this difficult time of the pandemic we come to play beach volleyball dressed as Santa, Happy Christmas," said Or Factor, who spoke in his full Santa costume.
Israel has had mixed results in its fight against the virus.
The Israeli prime minister was lauded in the spring for sealing borders and locking down the country swiftly, a move that battered the economy but drove down infection rates.
But a hasty and erratic reopening sent confirmed cases soaring in late summer, leading to what at the time was one of the world's worst outbreaks.
With daily infection numbers trending upward, Israeli leaders are again debating whether to impose a third national lockdown since the pandemic began.
Israel has reported more than 380,000 confirmed cases and 3,111 virus-related deaths since the start of the pandemic.
AP
