Saudi Arabia is to host 1,000 pilgrims who are family members of the martyrs and wounded in the Gaza Strip as an exceptional measure of this year’s Hajj season. The order for this was given by King Salman Bin Abdulaziz in a royal decree, the official Saudi News Agency has reported.

“The ministry has been preparing to receive the guests of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques from the martyrs’ families and the injured in Palestine and has developed a plan for this purpose through several committees tasked with caring for them and enabling them to perform Hajj with ease and convenience,” explained the Saudi Minister of Islamic Affairs, Abdullatif Bin Abdulaziz Al-Sheikh.
On Saturday, convoys of Palestinian pilgrims from the occupied West Bank arrived in Saudi Arabia to perform the Hajj pilgrimage. Israel has effectively blocked pilgrims from leaving Gaza to perform this religious duty, because the occupation state has closed the Rafah Crossing into Egypt. The Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs in Gaza denounced Israel for this on 22 May.
The Israeli army took control of the border crossing in Rafah on 7 May, since when it has been closed not only to pilgrims heading for Saudi Arabia, but also to patients seeking essential treatment abroad, as well as the entry of urgently-needed humanitarian aid.