“Exceptionally.” The Saudi King orders hosting a thousand pilgrims from the families of Gaza’s martyrs

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The Saudi King, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, ordered hosting 1,000 pilgrims from “the families of the martyrs and wounded from the Gaza Strip” on an exceptional basis this year, according to official media yesterday, Sunday.

According to the official Saudi News Agency (SPA), King Salman issued “his generous order to host 1,000 pilgrims from the families of the martyrs and injured from the Gaza Strip to perform this year’s Hajj rituals in an exceptional manner.”

This brings the total number of guests from Palestine to 2,000 pilgrims, within the program for guests of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques for Hajj, Umrah and Visitation, which is implemented by the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs, according to the agency.

Since last October 7, Israel has been waging a war on Gaza, which has left more than 121,000 Palestinians dead or wounded, most of them children and women, and about 10,000 missing amid massive destruction and deadly famine.

According to the Saudi Minister of Islamic Affairs, Call and Guidance, Abdul Latif bin Abdul Aziz Al Sheikh, the ministry “has made preparations to receive the guests of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, the families of the martyrs and the injured in Palestine.”

He stated, "A plan has been prepared for this through a number of committees, whose mission is to take care of the guests of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and enable them to perform Hajj with ease and ease."

On Saturday, convoys of Palestinian pilgrims from the occupied West Bank arrived in Saudi Arabia to perform the Hajj pilgrimage, while Israel deprives Gaza pilgrims of performing this duty.

On May 22, the Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs in Gaza denounced preventing thousands of citizens from the Strip from performing Hajj due to Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian side of the Rafah land crossing with Egypt.

Since May 6, the Israeli occupation army has been carrying out a ground attack in the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, and the next day it seized the Palestinian side of the crossing. Which caused it to be closed in order for the wounded to be sent out for treatment and the entry of already scarce humanitarian aid.

The Minister of Hajj and Umrah, Tawfiq Al-Rabiah, announced, in a press conference on Thursday, the arrival of about 1,200,000 pilgrims from various countries of the world by the end of last Wednesday.

In 2023, Saudi Arabia recorded a total number of pilgrims exceeding 1.8 million pilgrims from more than 150 countries, including more than 184,000 from inside the country.