The Holy Week That Holy Sites in Jerusalem Are Under Military Lockdown

Jerusalem's holy sites are under military restriction during the most important week in the Christian calendar. Here is the full picture of what this means for pilgrims, clergy, and the city.

Jerusalem during Holy Week is normally one of the most remarkable spectacles of religious devotion in the world. Pilgrims from six continents arrive to walk the Via Dolorosa, to attend services at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, to pray at the Western Wall, to visit Gethsemane and the Mount of Olives. The city's streets fill with processions, its churches overflow with worshippers, and the particular compressed spiritual intensity that derives from multiple religious traditions conducting their most important observations simultaneously creates an atmosphere that visitors describe as transformative regardless of their personal faith commitments.

In Holy Week 2026, Iranian missiles have struck 'meters from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre' in Netanyahu's own description. The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound has been restricted for Muslim worshippers. The traditional Palm Sunday procession from the Mount of Olives was cancelled. The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem was initially blocked by police from entering Christianity's holiest site. The Western Wall area has been operating under heightened security protocols since the war began.

For the approximately 3,000 Christian pilgrims who were already in Jerusalem for Holy Week — having booked their trips months in advance, in many cases as the fulfillment of lifetime aspirations — the restrictions have produced a experience that is defined as much by what cannot be done as by what can. Services continue inside the churches, but without the public processional elements that give Holy Week its visible character in Jerusalem specifically.

Israeli authorities have tried to balance security requirements against the pastoral and diplomatic significance of allowing Holy Week observations to proceed. The balance they have struck has satisfied no one fully — the religious communities feel constrained, the Israeli government faces criticism from Italy and the Vatican for the Pizzaballa incident, and the military situation that created the constraints is not resolved.

The Archbishop of Canterbury's public statement — calling for 'guaranteed access to holy sites for all faiths during this most sacred period' — was one of many international religious voices adding to the pressure on Israeli authorities. Whether that pressure produces any change in the remaining days of Holy Week depends on the military situation that Israeli authorities are managing simultaneously.