RAMALLAH, Palestine / ANKARA

Christians in the occupied West Bank marked Palm Sunday with limited religious rituals, as the Israeli army prevented most worshippers from reaching Jerusalem to celebrate at holy sites.

In cities such as Bethlehem, Jericho, Ramallah, Nablus, and Jenin, churches following the Eastern, Western, and Armenian calendars restricted Palm Sunday celebrations to masses and prayers only.

For the second consecutive year, the festive spirit was absent due to the ongoing Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, where more than 50,900 people have been killed, mostly women and children, since October 2023.

In Jerusalem, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III, Latin Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, and other church leaders presided over Palm Sunday services at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City, attended by bishops, priests, monks, and nuns, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

However, the Israeli army denied access to thousands of West Bank Christians seeking to attend the celebrations in Jerusalem.

Wafa reported that only a limited number of worshippers, mostly from Jerusalem and Israeli Arabs, were allowed in. Israeli forces issued only 6,000 permits for West Bank Christians, although the population exceeds 50,000.

“For the second year in a row, only a small number of pilgrims were able to attend Holy Week and Easter services in Jerusalem due to the ongoing war,” said Father Ibrahim Faltas, deputy head of the Custody of the Holy Land.

Christians worldwide, particularly in Jerusalem, consider Palm Sunday significant as it commemorates Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, where he was hailed as a king, according to Christian tradition.

Today began with an Israeli airstrike on the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City amid relentless attacks on the enclave.

Roughly 1,000 Christians live in Gaza, the majority of them Greek Orthodox. The community also includes Latin Catholics, both of whom maintain historic churches in Jerusalem.

At least 947 Palestinians have been killed and over 7,000 others injured since 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.