Bethlehem, West Bank ? On the first Sunday since Israel reoccupied Bethlehem, troops barred Christians from worshipping at the Church of the Nativity, one of Christianity’s most sacred shrines. Soldiers in another part of the West Bank searched four mosques for suspected militants.

There were no signs that the Israelis were near an end to the operation in the biblical town, despite a State Department call for troops to leave as soon as possible, with Christmas just a month away. Christian tradition holds that Jesus was born on the site of the Bethlehem church.

Israeli forces rolled into Bethlehem, in the West Bank just south of Jerusalem, early Friday, a day after a Palestinian suicide bomber from Bethlehem blew himself up on a Jerusalem bus, killing 11 passengers and injuring more than 40 others.

The army has been conducting house-to-house searches for militants there. Soldiers arrested a local Islamic Jihad leader on Sunday, the army said.

At the 4th century church, a few monks and nuns sang hymns and prayed. The scene reminded the Rev. Ibrahim Faltas of an even more tense situation six months ago, when dozens of Palestinian gunmen fled into the church ahead of invading Israeli forces, setting off a 39-day stalemate.

A few priests and nuns attend Mass inside the nearly empty Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Israel says it has closed off Manger Square to prevent a standoff similar to that of last spring, when Palestinian gunmen holed up inside the Church of the Nativity for 39 days.

“The church is sad without worshippers, who are the lives of the church,” Faltas said. “On this Sunday we are praying for peace in Bethlehem and call on God to decrease the suffering of the people.”

Israeli troops blocked off the entrance to the church and declared a curfew in the first stages of their incursion Friday to prevent gunmen from taking refuge there again.