As every year, the procession began at the Jaffa Gate of the historic Old City of Jerusalem.
However, Cardinal Pierbatista Pizzaballa - the highest representative of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land - was only accompanied by a few Franciscans and other believers on the short car journey to Bethlehem, a few kilometres to the south.
In the historic town, midnight mass is held in the world-famous Church of the Nativity.
Under the altar is the grotto where, according to tradition, Jesus Christ was born more than 2000 years ago.
The city, which is usually packed with tens of thousands of pilgrims from all over the world at Christmas, is virtually deserted due to the war and Israel's cordoning off.
The large Christmas tree that usually stands in front of the Church of the Nativity during Advent is missing.
The heads of the churches in Jerusalem had decided in November that there would be no Christmas decorations in the Holy Land because of the war.
On the way to Bethlehem, the procession is supposed to make a short stop, as it does every year, at Rachel's Tomb, which Christians, Jews and Muslims alike revere as a shrine.
Right next to it, Israeli soldiers will then open a large metal gate through the concrete wall between Jerusalem and the West Bank, which is up to nine metres high.
This gate is only opened for Christian processions.
The participants then have to return via other Israeli checkpoints, which often do not allow vehicles through.
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