LONDON: A total of 6,600 Palestinian pilgrims have arrived in Saudi Arabia over the past weeks to perform the annual Hajj rituals in Makkah, scheduled to take place from May 24-29, the Palestinian Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs said on Monday.
The pilgrims have traveled through Jordan from towns and cities in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, while the 700 pilgrims from the Gaza Strip traveled through Egypt. On arrival, the ministry confirmed that the pilgrims were hosted in six hotels in the Kingdom, according to the Wafa news agency.
Saudi authorities in Khaybar governorate, in the Madinah region, have received thousands of pilgrims from various nationalities, including Palestine, Jordan and Egypt. They have arrived by land through the Kingdom’s northern ports since late April, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam, and every non-disabled Muslim is required to undertake the pilgrimage to the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah at least once in their life.
Last year, 1,673,230 pilgrims performed Hajj, according to the General Authority for Statistics, of whom 166,654 were citizens or residents, while the rest came from outside the Kingdom.
An estimated 21,000 pilgrims from Syria are expected to perform the Hajj this month, and about 8,000 others from Jordan.
