- Thousands of Palestinians have been barred for a third consecutive year from performing Hajj as Israel keeps Gaza’s crossings closed
As Muslim pilgrims from around the world arrive in Saudi Arabia’s holy sites to perform the Hajj pilgrimage, Palestinian Suad Hajjaj remains in Gaza, grieving a dream long deferred.
Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, which began in October 2023, prevented Hajjaj from performing the spiritual journey she had prepared for years.
Before the war, Hajjaj had registered to travel for Hajj with her husband, brother and sister-in-law. But the Israeli assault shattered the family’s plans. Her husband was killed in an Israeli strike, her brother went missing and their home was destroyed.
Her story reflects the suffering of thousands of Palestinians who have been barred for a third consecutive year from performing Hajj as Israel keeps Gaza’s crossings closed and humanitarian conditions deteriorate because of the genocide.
Israel has blockaded Gaza since summer 2007. About 1.5 million of the enclave’s roughly 2.4 million Palestinians are now homeless after the war destroyed their homes.
The Ministry of Awqaf in Ramallah said on March 3 that the remaining share of Gaza’s Hajj quota had been transferred to the West Bank and East Jerusalem as an exceptional and temporary measure for this year. The ritual is set to start next week.
- Deferred dreams
Hajjaj, now displaced at Yarmouk Stadium east of Gaza City, told Anadolu that her preparations to perform Hajj with her husband and brother turned into tragedy after her husband was killed and her brother went missing during the war, leaving her as the provider for orphaned children.
She said the money the family had saved for Hajj was lost when their home was destroyed. She said she escaped with her children from under the rubble after losing everything.
As pilgrims start arriving in the Saudi city of Mecca, Hajjaj said she had dreamed of circling the Kaaba and standing on Mount Arafat, two central rites of Hajj, but the war and the closure of crossings deprived Gaza’s residents of performing the pilgrimage and moving freely like other Muslims.
She said her loss was not limited to money or the chance to perform Hajj. She also lost her husband and the life she had planned, while still holding on to hope that she will one day perform the pilgrimage.
Continued deprivation
Before the war, Gaza pilgrims were able to perform the Hajj pilgrimage every year despite the Israeli restrictions, after registering with the Ministry of Awqaf and waiting their turn through a lottery system.
They would leave through the Rafah border crossing into Egypt, travel by bus to Cairo International Airport and then fly to Saudi Arabia to perform the rites in Mecca and Medina.
The Ministry of Awqaf, in coordination with Egyptian and Saudi authorities and Hajj and Umrah companies, handled the logistical and security arrangements for the pilgrim trips.
Rami Abu Staitah, director general of Hajj and Umrah at Gaza’s Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs, said Palestine’s Hajj quota under a protocol signed with Saudi Arabia is 6,600 pilgrims, with Gaza receiving 38%, or 2,508 pilgrims.
Abu Staitah told Anadolu that 2,473 Palestinians from Gaza had passed the Hajj lottery since 2013 and were waiting to travel. Of them, 71 died before performing the pilgrimage, either in Israeli strikes or from natural causes, while 2,402 remain unable to travel.
He called the denial of Hajj to Gaza residents for consecutive years “a major setback” for Muslims in the enclave.
Citizens continue to contact the Ministry of Awqaf to ensure their names and right to travel for Hajj are preserved when conditions allow, Abu Staitah said.
He said the ministry is making continuous efforts and contacts with local and international parties to enable Gaza pilgrims to travel.
But those efforts have run into Israel’s closure of the Rafah crossing and its ban on civilian travel, except for limited numbers of patients under strict restrictions, he said.
Israel occupied and closed the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing in May 2024, cutting off Gaza’s only outlet to the outside world. It reopened the crossing in February 2026 for patients and wounded people.
Humanitarian crisis
Abu Staitah said the war has deprived Palestinians who registered and paid Hajj fees from performing the pilgrimage for three consecutive years.
He said the Ministry of Awqaf used to receive large numbers of older and sick people around this time each year who hoped to perform the rites, before the war and the closure of crossings prevented them from doing so.
The Israeli war in Gaza has killed more than 72,000 Palestinians, wounded over 172,000 others, and destroyed 90% of the enclave’s infrastructure. The United Nations has estimated reconstruction costs at about $70 billion.
Despite a ceasefire announced Oct. 10, Israel has continued the genocide by restricting humanitarian aid and carrying out daily strikes that have killed 883 Palestinians and wounded 2,648 others, most of them women and children.
Israel was established in 1948 on land seized by armed Zionist groups that committed massacres and displaced at least 750,000 Palestinians. Tel Aviv continues to refuse withdrawal and the establishment of a Palestinian state under relevant UN resolutions.
*Writing by Lina Altawell in Istanbul
