6,600 Palestinian pilgrims to perform Hajj this year

About 6,600 Palestinian pilgrims have arrived in Saudi Arabia in recent weeks to undertake the Hajj pilgrimage. The pinnacle of the Hajj in Makkah is scheduled to take place from 24 to 29 May 2026. This was announced by the Palestinian Ministry of Waqf and Religious Affairs on Monday, 18 May 2026.

The pilgrims travelled via Jordan from towns in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Meanwhile, 700 pilgrims from the Gaza Strip travelled via Egypt.

Upon arrival in Saudi Arabia, the ministry confirmed that the pilgrims have been accommodated in six hotels across the Kingdom. Saudi authorities in the Khaybar Governorate, in the Madinah region, have received thousands of pilgrims from various nationalities, including Palestine, Jordan, and Egypt.

They arrived by land through the Kingdom’s northern border gates since late April. Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam, and every able Muslim is required to perform the pilgrimage to the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah at least once in a lifetime.

Last year, 1,673,230 pilgrims performed Hajj, according to the General Authority for Statistics, of which 166,654 were Saudi nationals or residents. The remainder came from outside the Kingdom.

It is projected that around 21,000 pilgrims from Syria will perform Hajj this month, and about 8,000 more pilgrims from Jordan.