Overview
- At the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Easter services took place behind checkpoints with a very small group of clergy inside and most worshippers kept at a distance by police.
- Israeli authorities said missile debris and the risk of further strikes required tight limits on gatherings, with much of the Old City closed and Al-Aqsa Mosque shut to worshippers.
- After police blocked Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa from Palm Sunday Mass, international criticism pushed Israel to allow a narrow clergy-access plan for Holy Thursday and Good Friday, with ceremonies largely livestreamed.
- Orthodox Holy Week began under the same restrictions, as Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III led clergy through a near-empty Old City for Palm Sunday prayers.
- The curtailed worship reflects a wider regional war, as fighting between Israel and Hezbollah tied to the U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran has killed more than 1,400 people in Lebanon and displaced over a million, forcing many Christians to mark Easter far from their churches.