Gaza Hajj Pilgrims’ Hearts Heavy with Thoughts of Family Back Home
Away from home in Gaza, Palestinian pilgrim Mohammed Shehade said the rare chance he was given to perform Hajj is overshadowed by fears for his family trapped in the war-battered territory.
The 38-year-old engineer had been granted a permit to leave as he sought life-saving cancer treatment in Egypt, but the Israeli regime's authorities barred his family from accompanying him.
He said his departure from the Gaza Strip in February presented him with "the opportunity of a lifetime" to apply for the annual Muslim pilgrimage, which begins on Wednesday.
But even as he visited the holy sites in the Saudi city of Mecca, his heart was heavy with thoughts of his wife and four children stuck in Gaza under relentless bombardment.
"This is life's greatest suffering, to be far away from your family," Shehade told AFP on a roadside leading to Mecca's Grand Mosque.
He is among hundreds of Gazans set to perform Islam's holiest rites alongside more than a million worshippers from across the globe.
As pilgrims robed in white filed by, Shehade said he had been praying day and night for the Gaza war to end and to be reunited with his family.
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"You could be in the best place in the world, but if you are away from your family, you will never be happy," he said.
'Between two fires'
Israel has relentlessly attacked Gaza since October 7, 2023, stopping the blistering military offensive only during two short-lived truces.
Leaving Gaza has become practically impossible for most inhabitants, but some, like Shehade, have been evacuated on medical grounds.
"Here I am preparing to perform Hajj, but there are things I can't speak about. If I do, I will cry," he said as tears began to form in his eyes.
Shehade left Gaza during a truce, but Israel has since renewed its intense bombing campaign and blocked aid deliveries, with the United Nations warning of widespread famine.
"When I left, I was caught between two fires," Shehade said of the choice to travel for an essential surgery and leave his family behind.
The health ministry in Gaza said on Sunday that at least 4,149 people have been killed in the territory since Israel resumed its offensive on March 18, taking the war's overall death toll to 54,418, mostly civilians.
Prayers for peace
About 1,350 Gazans, mostly residing in Egypt, in addition to another 500 who have been invited as guests of the Saudi king, are set to perform Hajj this year, Palestinian officials said.
One Gazan pilgrim, Rajaee Rajeh al-Kahlout, 48, fled the Palestinian territory for Egypt with his four children and his wife seven months after war erupted.
His home was destroyed, and his import-export business was shattered.
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While Hajj is normally a source of joy, Kahlout said he couldn't think of celebrations.
"All my family, my sisters and brothers, are still in Gaza... Every waking moment, we fear for our family," he told AFP, calling on pilgrims to pray for the war to end and loved ones to be reunited once more.
"I wish I could have come here during better times, without war, death and destruction."
In the lobby of the Al-Nuzha Plus hotel in Mecca, where Gazan pilgrims are staying, a widow in her 60s told AFP she had not seen her 10 children since she was evacuated for medical reasons last year.
She said she was praying for "the children of Palestine" suffering from starvation and conflict.
"All I think about is Gaza, my whole life is there: my children, my home... I want to return."
Source: AFP
