In pictures: Easter celebrations marked in the Middle East

An Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Christian priest attends a Palm Sunday mass at the Samaan el-Kharaz monastery, in the Mokattam Mountain area of Cairo.

Christians in Egypt celebrated Palm Sunday without limitations on attendance for the first time in two years following a complete easing of coronavirus restrictions in the country. (Reuters/Mohamed Abd El Ghany)

The Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophilos III, leads a procession during Orthodox Palm Sunday, marking the start of Holy Week that ends on Easter Sunday in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City. (Reuters/Amir Cohen)
 

Christian worshipers touch the Stone of Anointing, or Stone of Unction, at Easter Sunday Mass in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City. (Reuters/Amir Cohen)
 

Palestinian women light candles during Palm Sunday at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. (Reuters/Mussa Qawasma)

Iraqi Catholic Christians attend Easter Sunday mass at Qaraqosh's Al-Tahera (Immaculate Conception) Church in Hamdaniyah district, in the northern Iraqi province of Nineve. (AFP/Zaid Al-Obeidi)

The Qaraqosh's Al-Tahera Church, established during the seventh century east of Mosul, was torched by the Islamic State group when it swept into the northern Iraqi province in 2014 and was later further heavily damaged in fighting.

The church's imposing marble floors and columns were restored just before Pope Francis visited Iraq in 2021. (AFP/Zaid Al-Obeidi)

A Syrian Christian boy attends Easter Sunday mass at the Forty Martyrs Armenian Cathedral in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. (AFP)

Coloured eggs are kept in baskets before being distributed during Easter celebrations at the Church of Our Lady of Protection in the Sin el-Fil neighbourhood of Lebanon's capital, Beirut. (AFP/Anwar Amro)