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Palestinian Christians living under Israeli occupation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem say they face a growing pattern of harassment, physical assault and restricted access to holy sites.
Meanwhile, former UN special rapporteur on Palestine, Michael Lynk, has warned that the Israeli government wants Palestinian Christians, along with all Palestinians, "erased" from Palestinian land.
Speaking to Türkiye's state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) from Ramallah, Palestinian Christians described a daily reality of fear and restriction.
"What we are experiencing now is discrimination and racism. Whether Muslim or Christian, anyone who is not Jewish is being attacked," said a Christian resident of Ramallah.
"The situation in East Jerusalem is truly very difficult, and no one is happy about it," the resident added.
Another resident said access to Jerusalem had become difficult even for those holding permits, noting that people are afraid of being attacked by Israelis. "There is no situation that can protect people and allow them to respond," the resident said.
The resident described being barred from visiting churches even on religious holidays by saying, "We have been deprived of going to churches even during holidays. This violates our freedom to worship."
A resident from Bethlehem linked the escalating attacks to incitement from Israeli far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, saying his statements "contribute to justifying attacks, in days when practices like spitting on Christians are discussed as part of cultural heritage."
The resident added that Israeli restrictions had at times been severe enough "to close churches on religious occasions," and that attacks had extended to Christian-owned land and property.
Speaking to AA from The Hague, Lynk said human rights reports consistently document a rise in settler and military attacks on Christian communities, places of worship and villages in the occupied territories. He was clear, however, that the attacks are not primarily motivated by anti-Christian sentiment but by a broader objective.
"These radical settlers, soldiers and the Israeli government want Palestinian Christians to disappear, to be erased from Palestinian land," Lynk said.
"Palestinian Christian communities are among the oldest Christian communities in the world. If there is a community that Christians of all backgrounds should support and show solidarity with, it is Palestinian Christians," he added.
Lynk said communities were being forced to live under conditions designed to push them to emigrate and sever their connection to their land and ancestors.
He criticized Christian Zionist communities in Europe and North America for being among the most loyal supporters of Israel's occupation while Palestinian Christians suffer.
He also noted that for the first time in centuries, a traditional Christian community ceremony in Jerusalem had been banned this year, and praised Pope Leo XIV for consistently calling the Catholic priest in Gaza and offering hope to Palestinian Christians there.
The beating of a French nun at the École Biblique et Archéologique Française in East Jerusalem on April 28 triggered diplomatic responses from multiple European governments.
Security camera footage showed the attacker, a 36-year-old Israeli man arrested by Israeli police on suspicion of racially motivated assault, pushing the nun from behind, causing her to fall and strike her head on a stone, then kicking her while she was on the ground.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot demanded an exemplary punishment. "The perpetrator of this abominable act has been arrested. The punishment must be exemplary to put an end to the growing anti-Christian acts on the holy land," Barrot said on X.
"France, faithful to its historic mission of protecting Catholic communities and holy places, cannot in any way accept anti-Christian acts," he added.
Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani called on Israel to guarantee Christian religious freedom, saying: "The growing trend of hostility towards the Christian community in Israel, Gaza, the West Bank and southern Lebanon is now clearly visible."
"This violence also targets Christian symbols and places of worship. We continue to call on the Israeli government to guarantee the religious freedom and presence of Christians in the Middle East, who have always been advocates for peace," he added.
Jerusalem's Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Sebastia Atallah Hanna said the attack "coincides with a rise in violations against Christian institutions in the city," warning that it "raises concerns about the future of the historic Christian presence in the holy land" and that such incidents are "no longer isolated events but rather a recurring context that threatens Christian presence."
According to Rossing Center data, 157 incidents targeting Christians were recorded in 2024, including 46 physical assaults and 111 hate crimes. By 2025, the figure had exceeded 180, representing a 63% rise in harassment and hate crimes.
In 2025, more than 61 physical attacks were recorded, including beatings and pepper-spray incidents. East Jerusalem saw 83% of these cases, nearly half of which (43%) specifically targeted the Armenian Quarter and Patriarchate."
Spitting accounts for 60% of documented harassment in the Old City of East Jerusalem, followed by insults and threats at 18% and damage to Christian religious symbols at 12%.
Physical violence accounts for 5% of recorded cases.
Haaretz reported that between 2018 and 2020, nine out of 10 hate-crime investigations involving mosques and churches were closed by Israeli authorities, citing an inability to identify perpetrators.
Ben-Gvir had said in October 2023 that "spitting on Christians is an old Jewish tradition and is not a crime requiring arrest."
Israel also closed both the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in East Jerusalem on Feb. 28, 2026, coinciding with the launch of the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.
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