Italian cardinal WILL be allowed into sacred Christian site after Benjamin Netanyahu intervenes

That sparked a major international spat - appearing to force the Israeli PM's hand.

Late on Sunday night, Mr Netanyahu said he had told the "relevant authorities" to give Cardinal Pizzaballa full and immediate access to the church.

He then clarified why the cleric had been barred.

"Today, out of special concern for his safety, Cardinal Pizzaballa was asked to refrain from holding mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre," Mr Netanyahu said.

"Even though I understand this concern, as soon as I learned about the incident with Cardinal Pizzaballa, I instructed the authorities to enable the Patriarch to hold services as he wishes."

He outlined how Israel had temporarily stopped all Christians, Jews and Muslims worshipping in the Old City of Jerusalem due to a repeated targeting campaign by Iran.

Worshippers from all three religions have been turned away from their holy sites since the start of the US-Israeli war against Iran, particularly places without bomb shelters.

Police said they had rejected a request from the Patriarchate for a Palm Sunday exemption.

Just days prior to the cardinal's ban, shrapnel from an Iranian missile and debris from Israeli interceptors fell in Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter.

The IDF's Home Front Command confirmed that the impact affected a site adjacent to the Temple Mount.

While Mr Netanyahu said missile fragments rained down mere metres from the church itself.

Regardless of the Israeli security fears, the cardinal's ban sparked a bitter outcry - even from the Jewish State's allies.

The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, called it "an unfortunate overreach already having major repercussions around the world" which was "difficult to understand or justify".

Canada's PM Mark Carney branded the move a "violation of the Holy Sites' status quo", while French President Emmanuel Macron outright condemned it.

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said he would summon Israel's ambassador over the incident, meanwhile.

Cardinal Pizzaballa himself clarified on Sunday: "It is true that the police had said that the orders from the internal command prevented any kind of gathering in places where there is no shelter, but we had not asked for anything public - just a brief and small private ceremony to preserve the idea of the celebration in the Holy Sepulchre."

Christians, Muslims and Jews have been unable to observe Easter, Ramadan or Passover as usual due to police restrictions in Jerusalem this year.

But Old City locals and religious officials said police restrictions on worship had not been implemented consistently.

They noted that Muslim Waqf preachers were able to access the Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan and Eid, while cleaners were allowed to remove prayer notes from the Western Wall, an annual ritual, ahead of Passover.