The Higher Presidential Committee for Church Affairs condemned on Saturday the attack by the Israeli occupation forces on monks, clerics, and Christian worshippers participating in the Holy Saturday celebrations in occupied Jerusalem, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.

“For days, the Israeli police has been threatening to impose a closure on the Holy City, and asked churches to reduce the number of participants and those allowed to enter the Church of the Holy Sepulcher,” Ramzi Khoury, the Head of the Committee, said in a statement.

“Since Saturday morning, the Israeli police has been transforming the city into a military barracks, and barriers have been deployed at all entrances and around the Church of the Holy Sepulcher,” Khoury continued.

Israel Blocks Some Christians from Holy Fire Ceremony in Jerusalem

Khoury stressed that Israel does not care about international law, which guarantees the freedom of worship and the unimpeded practice of religious rituals, adding that “the attacks against Christians today are the same attacks against Muslim worshipers in the Al-Aqsa Mosque”.

“It has become clear that the Israeli occupation government is not concerned with achieving calm, but is rather interested in escalation and violence, working with all its means to provoke the sentiments of Muslim and Christian worshipers,” he added.

Khoury urged the international community and human rights institutions to take immediate action against Israel’s violation of the sanctity of the holy sites and to put an end to the Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people.

(WAFA, PC)