Agencies-Gaza post
IOF assaults Christians, prevents them from praying at Holy Sepulchre church
Thousands of Orthodox Christians from around the world assembled in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Saturday for the ceremony of the Holy Fire in the advancement of the Orthodox Easter celebration on Sunday. They were assaulted both outside and inside the Church by armed Israeli soldiers according to local sources.
Local sources reported that Israeli military forces, which were deployed throughout the Old City of Jerusalem on Saturday, deterred Christians from freely arriving at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, adding that one of the priests was assaulted by the Israeli military forces during his way to the church.
Despite the Israeli restrictions, thousands of Christians celebrated the ceremony of the Holy Fire at the Holy Sepulchre Church according to sources.
The Church is revered by Christians worldwide as being built on the place where they believe that Jesus rose to heaven.
Before assaulting the Christians on their way to Church, the Israeli soldiers closed the New Gate, which was considered to be the passage for Christian pilgrims on their Easter march to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Sebastia in Al-Quds, Archbishop Atallah Hanna, said that the Israeli military turned the Jerusalem Old City into a military barracks and that the violation of the sanctity of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is an unparalleled targeting of the Christian existence in the city.
Archbishop Hanna stated that the Israeli forces’ decision to enter the Church of the Holy Sepulchre with their weapons is a clear provocation of Christians and worshipers and that the soldiers attacked worshipers in an unusual scene during the most significant Christian holidays.
He added, “This is a cry to the Christian churches in the East and the whole world to pay attention to the Christian presence in Occupied Al-Quds [Jerusalem”, and that “the occupation is sabotaging our holidays and religious occasions, and this is a crime committed in broad daylight against all Christians.”
This aggression by the Israeli military against Christians praying during the Easter weekend was not a random attack but had been prepared by the military as evidenced by the report on the last day in the “Israel Hayom” newspaper in which representatives of the Christian community alerted against the Israeli decision to impose barracks on Christian worshipers entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
