New Delhi: Pope Leo on Thursday delivered his first Christmas sermon in which he spoke of the situation in Gaza and the condition of the Palestinian people. In his first Midnight Mass at St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City, he spoke of Jesus’s birth in a stable, saying that God had “pitched his fragile tent” among the people, so “how, then, can we not think of the tents in Gaza, exposed for weeks to rain, wind and cold?” He said that the only solution to the decades-long conflict between Israel and Palestine must include a Palestinian state.Pope Leo also spoke of the suffering of the homeless and those who have been displaced by wars around the world.“Fragile is the flesh of defenceless populations, tried by so many wars, ongoing or concluded, leaving behind rubble and open wounds,” the pope said.“Fragile are the minds and lives of young people forced to take up arms, who on the front lines feel the senselessness of what is asked of them and the falsehoods that fill the pompous speeches of those who send them to their deaths,” he added.The pope called for an end to all global wars and political, social and military conflict in Ukraine, Sudan, Mali, Myanmar, and Thailand and Cambodia, among others.“May the clamour of weapons cease, and may the parties involved, with the support and commitment of the international community, find the courage to engage in sincere, direct and respectful dialogue,” he said.In Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, thousands gathered to celebrate Christmas for the first time in two years, after ceremonies were previously cancelled because of the war.Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, presided over the celebrations and called for a Christmas “full of light”. Pizabella spoke of his visit to Gaza over the weekend and said that he had come bearing greetings from Gaza’s small Christian community. “We, all together, we decide to be the light, and the light of Bethlehem is the light of the world,” he said.