Israeli police have blocked top Catholic leaders from entering Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre for a private Palm Sunday Mass.

The heads of major Christian denominations in Israel say that local governments across the country are demanding they pay property tax, violating a longstanding arrangement in a manner they say reflects growing intolerance for Christians in the Holy Land.

Thousands of Christian pilgrims have participated in Palm Sunday celebrations in Jerusalem at the start of the Holy Week.

Many Christians around the world flock to Jerusalem each Easter to try and relive firsthand the events written about in the Bible on what is the most important week and day on the Christian calendar.

Christians have celebrated their “Holy Fire” ceremony at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

Christian worshipers gathered in Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Seplucher, the traditional site of Jesus’s crucifixion, burial and resurrection, to observe the Easter holiday.

Christianity’s most joyous feast day is being celebrated worldwide with worshippers spaced apart in pews and singing choruses of “Hallelujah” through face coverings for the second Easter Sunday in a row.

For a second year, Christians in the Holy Land are marking Good Friday without the mass pilgrimages usually seen in the Holy Week leading up to Easter because of the coronavirus.