Aysar Alais, Ikram Kouachi and Rania Abu Shamala
19 April 2025•Update: 20 April 2025
ISTANBUL
Israeli authorities on Saturday blocked Christian worshippers’ access to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in occupied Jerusalem when they tried to mark Holy Saturday (Holy Fire), a sacred day in Easter weekend celebrations.
Israeli police erected military checkpoints on roads leading to the church in the Old City, checking IDs and denying entry to many young people, according to Palestinian state news agency Wafa.
The restrictions came as Christian communities marked Holy Saturday, one of the holiest days in the Christian calendar, ahead of tomorrow’s Easter Sunday, as marked by many Christians.
Wafa reported that Israeli authorities barred thousands of Christians from the occupied West Bank from entering Jerusalem for the occasion, enforcing strict permit requirements for both Muslim and Christian Palestinians.
Church sources told Wafa that only 6,000 permits were issued to West Bank Christians this year, despite the community numbering around 50,000 across the Palestinian territories.
In a statement by the Higher Presidential Committee for Church Affairs in Palestine, chaired by PLO Executive Committee member Ramzi Khouri, the committee strongly condemned “the Israeli occupation authorities for imposing sweeping restrictions on Christian worshippers and foreign pilgrims during Holy Saturday celebrations in occupied Jerusalem."
“Israeli forces erected military checkpoints and enforced heavy restrictions across Jerusalem’s Old City, preventing large numbers of Palestinian Christians and pilgrims from reaching the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,” it said.
Most notably, Israeli authorities denied entry to the Apostolic Delegate and Vatican Ambassador to Palestine Archbishop Adolfo Tito Yllana, an act that violates diplomatic protocols and international conventions, added the committee.
Holy Saturday “is one of the most sacred days in the Christian calendar, drawing thousands of faithful from across Palestine and the world. Yet, once again, the Israeli occupation has turned this spiritual occasion into a militarized ordeal, obstructing worshippers and imposing heavy restrictions,” it said.
The committee “cited reports from human rights organizations documenting physical assaults and arbitrary arrests of worshippers, including local Jerusalemite Christians, during the day’s events.”
Calling for urgent international action, the committee appealed to the United Nations, global human rights bodies, churches and Christian institutions worldwide to intervene.
“The international community must not remain silent in the face of these discriminatory and repressive measures. Freedom of worship in Jerusalem must be upheld for Palestinian Christians and Muslims.”
Despite the limitations, Christian pilgrims continue to travel annually to Jerusalem for the Holy Fire rituals, which take place in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, believed to be the site of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. However, Israeli security measures have repeatedly marred the celebrations.
For the second year in a row, participation in Holy Week and Easter ceremonies has been visibly reduced due to the ongoing Israeli onslaught in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Churches have also scaled back all celebratory activities and parades for Easter, limiting observances to religious services and prayers.
Tension has been high in the occupied West Bank, where at least 952 Palestinians have been killed and over 7,000 others injured since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, according to Palestinian figures.
In July 2024, the International Court of Justice declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land illegal and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
