Israeli authorities have drawn sharp international criticism after a series of moves seen as undermining the Status Quo — a centuries-old Ottoman-era arrangement governing access and worship at Jerusalem's holy sites, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In recent weeks, Israeli forces blocked Palestinian Christians from reaching the church on Holy Saturday, while National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir led Jewish worshippers in prayers inside the Al-Aqsa compound in defiance of a longstanding ban on non-Muslim religious rituals there; authorities also imposed a 40-day closure of both sites, preventing Friday prayers, Eid al-Fitr observances, and Palm Sunday services. Critics argue that Israel is no longer merely bending the Status Quo in isolated incidents but is systematically replacing it with a framework of full Israeli control — one that, they say, treats Palestinian Muslims and Christians as temporary residents rather than peoples with deep historical and legal claims to the city.