The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has strongly denounced the Israeli police for assaulting a number of Christian worshipers in the Old City of Jerusalem and obstructing their access to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher to mark the Holy Fire occasion.

Hamas spokesman Mohamed Hamada said the Israeli police assaults on Christian worshipers in Jerusalem “reaffirm the nature of this occupation state, its abhorrent racism and its arrogance towards anyone who is not Jewish, and debunk its claims about respecting religions and caring for freedoms.”
 
The spokesman stressed that the Palestinian people would remain steadfast on their land and stand in the face of the occupation state’s unjust practices that violate all human values and international resolutions.
 
He called on the international community to stop using double standards when dealing with the occupation state and to work on putting an end to its crimes.
 
The Israeli occupation police assaulted many Christian worshipers as they were trying to enter the Old City of Jerusalem to celebrate the Holy Fire occasion on Saturday morning.

 
Eyewitnesses said that Israeli police forces assaulted Christian worshipers as they were trying to enter the Old City to attend the Holy Fire ceremony at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
 
Local sources affirmed that the Israeli police started in the morning to block roads leading to the Church of Holy Sepulcher and only allowed a few number of Christian visitors, including clerics and nuns, to reach the holy sites.
 
However, some Christian worshipers managed to force their way into the Old City and reach the Church.
 
The Higher Follow-up Committee in 1948 occupied Palestine said last Thursday that the Israeli police would limit, for the second consecutive year, the number of Christian visitors to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher to 1,800 people, including clerics, nuns and church employees.
 
Recently, the Israeli occupation authority also announced its decision to prevent hundreds of Christian citizens from Gaza to travel to Jerusalem to attend the holy event to be held at the Church.