With no Christmas tree or decorations adorning the Church of the Nativity, revered as the birthplace of Jesus Christ, holiday cheer was absent in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem on Tuesday.

But for some, like Jerusalem resident Hisham Makhoul, spending Christmas in the holy city provided an "escape" from the Israel-Hamas war raging for more than 14 months in the Gaza Strip.

AFP photographer Sameer al-Doumy never dreamed he would be able to return to the hometown in Syria that he escaped through a tunnel seven years ago after it was besieged by Bashar al-Assad's forces.

Douma, once a rebel stronghold near Damascus, suffered terribly for its defiance of the former regime, and was the victim of a particularly horrific chemical weapons attack in 2018.

"It is like a dream for me today to find myself back here," he said.

"The revolution was a dream, getting out of a besieged town and of Syria was a dream, as it is now being able to go back.

Sarah Latifa had feared that her Christian community in Syria may struggle to celebrate its first Christmas since Islamist-led rebels toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad earlier this month.

But at a church in Damascus's historic centre, surrounded by some 500 faithful who were singing psalms on Christmas Eve on Tuesday, she could breathe a sigh of relief.

"It wasn't easy to come together in the current circumstances and to joyfully pray, but thank God, we did it," Latifa told AFP at mass at the capital's Syriac Orthodox cathedral of Saint George.

Syria's new leaders announced Tuesday that they had reached an agreement with the country's rebel groups on their dissolution and integration under the defence ministry.

Absent from the meeting were representatives of the US-backed, Kurdish-led forces that control swathes of Syria's northeast.

Christians gathered at the Church of the Nativity in the holy city of Bethlehem on Tuesday to mark a solemn Christmas overshadowed by war, as Pope Francis led mass in the Vatican.

In Bethlehem, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, festive decorations were missing for a second consecutive year.

The crowd of several hundred paled in comparison to the throngs of tourists and pilgrims of Christmases past -- a reflection of the sombre mood as the war between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip churns on.

Palestinian security forces deployed around the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank holy city of Bethlehem on Tuesday, as the faithful prepared for another solemn Christmas overshadowed by the war in Gaza.

An unusual calm enveloped Manger Square, the heart of the Palestinian city dominated by the revered church that marks the site where Christians believe Jesus Christ was born.

The white-walled compound and its surrounding plaza were empty, save for a few vendors selling coffee and corn and a significant contingent of journalists, an AFP reporter saw.

Two Syrian doctors and a nurse told AFP in a series of interviews over the weekend that Bashar al-Assad's government coerced them into providing false testimony to international investigators after a deadly 2018 chlorine attack.

The three, who treated the wounded at a field hospital in the rebel-held town of Douma near Damascus after the April 7, 2018 attack, said they were summoned to national security headquarters in the capital.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told lawmakers on Monday that "some progress" had been made in negotiations to secure the release of hostages held in Gaza, more than 14 months into the war.

His comments in parliament came two days after Palestinian militant groups also talked of progress towards a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

In recent days, indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas mediated by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States took place in Doha, rekindling hope of an agreement that has proven elusive.

United Nations peacekeepers and Lebanon's prime minister called on Monday for the Israeli army to speed up its withdrawal from the country, nearly a month into a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

"UNIFIL strongly urges accelerated progress in the IDF's (Israeli military) withdrawal from and the LAF's (Lebanese army) deployment in south Lebanon," the force said in a statement.

It called on "all actors to cease and refrain from violations of (Security Council) resolution 1701 and any actions that could jeopardise the fragile stability that currently prevails".

Like many of his fellow Tunisians, 23-year-old Amine Elhani has never been to the cinema, but now, thanks to a mobile theatre touring the country, he can finally enjoy the big screen.

The bright red truck of CinemaTdour, or "moving cinema", has transformed parking lots and factory grounds in underserved towns and neighbourhoods across the North African country into pop-up theatres.

In the central town of Djemmal, dozens of workers unloaded the expandable truck, easily setting up a fully equipped outdoor movie theatre with 100 seats.