Saudi King invites 1,000 more Palestinians for Hajj
Last Updated on June 11, 2024 10:00 am
King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia has issued a royal decree to host another 1,000 pilgrims to the families of those killed and injured in the attack by the occupying Israeli forces in the besieged Gaza Strip of Palestine.
According to media reports, last May, Saudi Arabia announced that 1,000 Palestinians would be allowed to perform Hajj free of charge.
Gulf News reported that the new announcement brought the total number of pilgrims hosted from Palestine under King Salman’s Hajj guest program to 2,000.
Saudi Minister of Religious Affairs. Abdul Latif Bin Abdul Aziz Al Sheikh said, the aim of this initiative is to alleviate some of the suffering that the people of Gaza are going through.
He emphasized that this humanitarian initiative of the Saudi leadership will allow the family members of those martyred and injured in Gaza to perform Hajj. This initiative is part of Saudi’s continued support for the Palestinian brothers.
According to King Salman’s royal directive, Saudi Arabia has initiated the ‘Hosting Initiative for Pilgrims from the Families of Martyrs and the Wounded from the Gaza Strip’ to bring pilgrims from the families of the martyrs of the Gaza Strip to Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, Saudi security forces have evicted hundreds of thousands of unregistered pilgrims from the city of Mecca ahead of the Hajj, which begins next week.
According to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), Al-Arabiya media reported on Sunday (June 9) that 153,998 of those expelled from Makkah are foreigners.
They came to Saudi Arabia on travel visas and did not have the necessary documents to perform Hajj.
Besides, 171 thousand 587 people who came to Makkah from other cities of Saudi Arabia without Hajj permission were turned away from Makkah.
It should be noted that Hajj is one of the most obligatory acts of worship in the Muslim world, which is held every Arabic year in the month of Zilhaj centered around the Kaaba in the holy city of Mecca. At this time, millions of people from all over the world gathered in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Makkah’s regional authority said on social media X that 1.3 million registered pilgrims had arrived in Saudi Arabia as of last Saturday.