For the third consecutive year, the oppressive Zionist regime has cruelly denied thousands of Muslims in the besieged Gaza Strip their fundamental right to perform the sacred Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. This inhumane blockade, a stark violation of international law and human dignity, continues to inflict profound suffering upon a population already enduring a relentless genocidal war.

Hanan al-Hams, a 65-year-old Palestinian woman, exemplifies the shattered hopes of Gaza’s faithful. She was among the 3,000 pilgrims slated for the 2024 Hajj, a lifelong dream that has now been brutally extinguished by Israel’s ongoing aggression, launched on October 7, 2023. “I lost my son, my home was destroyed, and now I am deprived of the journey I waited decades for,” al-Hams recounted to Al Jazeera, her voice heavy with grief, as she sat amidst the ruins of her home in northern Gaza.

The Zionist entity has maintained absolute control over Gaza’s entry and exit points for years, long before the current war. The Rafah crossing, Gaza’s only link to the outside world, saw a partial opening in February, but only for critically ill patients requiring urgent medical treatment abroad. All other travel – including vital religious pilgrimages, educational pursuits, and work – remains virtually impossible under Israel’s suffocating land, air, and sea blockade, enforced since 2007.

With 2.3 million Palestinians, the majority displaced and living in squalid tent camps or amidst the rubble of their destroyed homes, Gaza has been systematically reduced to ruins by Israeli forces. This ongoing genocidal war has claimed the lives of at least 72,775 Palestinians, drawing widespread condemnation from across the globe, yet the international community’s response remains tragically insufficient.

The Zionist occupation continues its military offensive and illegally occupies over 60 percent of Gaza’s territory, brazenly violating all international norms and agreements.

As the sacred Hajj season commences in Saudi Arabia, profound grief echoes across the besieged Gaza Strip. Adnan Abu Foul and his wife, Um Ibrahim, wept as they watched pilgrims circumambulate the Kaaba on a small mobile phone screen, a poignant reminder of their denied spiritual journey. “The war stopped, and we hoped to perform Hajj, but for three years, I haven’t been able to leave,” Abu Foul lamented, his words a testament to the enduring suffering.

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs, more than 10,000 citizens have been prevented from performing Hajj over the past three years due to the Israeli shutdown of the Rafah crossing. Tragically, at least 71 Hajj pilgrims, who had previously won the official draw, perished during the brutal Israeli war before they could fulfill their sacred ritual.

This systematic deprivation extends beyond mere border closures; it represents a deliberate dismantling of Gaza’s religious tourism economy, a calculated act of “structural economic genocide,” as described in a May 2026 study by the Palestinian Center for Political Studies (PCPS). The study, authored by researcher Khaled Abu Amer, exposes the Zionist campaign against Gaza’s Hajj and Umrah sector.

The PCPS study reveals the complete collapse of all 78 licensed travel companies in the sector, with the vast majority damaged or utterly destroyed by the conflict. Mohammed al-Astal, head of the Association of Hajj and Umrah Companies in Gaza, highlighted capital losses exceeding $4 million, alongside an estimated $2-3 million in frozen funds held by external agents. Before this aggression, the sector injected at least $12 million annually into the local economy, supporting over 1,500 direct and indirect workers whose livelihoods have now been decimated.

Mohammed Abdul Bari, a local Hajj organizer, stood before the rubble of his company, recalling the vibrant farewell festivals that once saw 20 buses depart, now vanished into the ruins of Gaza.

Collective Punishment and Flagrant Violations of International Law

The PCPS report unequivocally asserts that the repeated targeting of Gaza’s religious sector is not accidental collateral damage but an intentional policy of collective punishment, strictly prohibited under Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Furthermore, denying residents the ability to travel for religious purposes through Israeli-controlled crossings constitutes a dual violation of the right to freedom of religion and freedom of movement, protected under Articles 18 and 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It also brazenly violates Article 53 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the destruction of civilian property.

Due to this criminal blockade, Gaza’s annual Hajj quota of approximately 3,000 is currently being filled by Palestinians holding Gaza IDs but residing in Egypt and other nations. Thousands of spots have also been temporarily diverted to pilgrims from the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, with a vague official agreement to compensate Gaza in future seasons – a promise that rings hollow amidst ongoing oppression.

For now, thousands of Gaza’s elderly and sick remain trapped, their hopes fading with each passing day. Rami Abu Staitah, director general of Hajj and Umrah at the Waqf Ministry, lamented, “We could not organise the season because we were given no guarantees that the crossing would open. The preparations require early, complex contracts for housing and transport, which are impossible under these conditions.”

The ministry has issued an urgent appeal to the international community, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, imploring them to intervene and separate the sacred religious pilgrimage from the Zionist regime’s cynical political calculations. The world must act to end this egregious injustice.