A number of 73 Copts left Cairo to Jerusalem City to celebrate Easter at the Church of the Resurrection. Sources said that not only Coptic Catholics traveled but also Orthodox  regardless the decision of the late Coptic Orthodox Pope Shenouda III banning visiting Jerusalem during the Israeli occupation.

The Coptic Orthodox Church had warned against punishing the Copts who will travel to Jerusalem by restricting them from practicing the Holy Sacraments. Coptic Orthodox Bishop Marqus of Shubrā al-Khaymah said that the Holy Synod had renewed the decision to ban visiting Jerusalem (Yūsuf al-‘Umī, Hishām Yassa and ‘Imād Khalīl, al-Misrī al-Yawm, Mar. 29, p. 1). Read original text in Arabic.