INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
pilgrimage returns to its monumental scale.Saudi officials say more than 1.5 million foreign pilgrims have arrived in the country by
Tuesday, the vast majority by air, from across the world
More are expected, and hundreds of thousands of Saudis and others living in Saudi Arabia will also join them when the pilgrimage officially
begins on Friday.Saudi officials have said they expect the number of pilgrims this year to exceed 2023, when more than 1.8 million people
performed Hajj, approaching pre-pandemic levels
In 2019, more than 2.4 million Muslims made the pilgrimage
Saudi authorities control the flow of pilgrims through quotas, allowing each country one pilgrim for every thousand Muslim citizens.The
pilgrims included 4,200 Palestinians from the occupied West Bank who arrived in Mecca earlier this month, according to the Palestinian
Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip were not able to travel to Saudi Arabia for Hajj this year, because of the 8-month war between Israel and
prayers.On Tuesday, pilgrims thronged the Grand Mosque in Mecca, performing a ritual circuit walking seven times around the Kaaba, the
