Hanan al-Hams was among the 3,000 Palestinians from Gaza scheduled to travel for the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in 2024. But her lifelong dream to perform Hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, was shattered by Israel’s war on Gaza, 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, 65, told Al Jazeera, sitting inside a makeshift tent pitched over the ruins of her home in northern Gaza.

Entry and exit from Gaza were decided by Israel even before the war began. A partial opening in February of the Rafah crossing – the only connection to the outside world –  has allowed passage only for patients who need medical treatments abroad.

For any other travel requirement, including pilgrimage, study, and work, getting out of the enclave is near to impossible amid an Israeli land, air and sea blockade in place since 2007.

Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people remain displaced, living in tent camps and destroyed houses as Israeli forces have turned the besieged enclave into rubble, killing at least 72,775 Palestinians during the ongoing genocidal war that has drawn condemnation from across the world.

A ceasefire in October 2025 ended the war, but Israel has continued its military offensive and continues to occupy more than 60 percent of Gaza’s territory in breach of the truce.

Across the besieged Gaza Strip, scenes of profound grief are echoing as the Hajj season commences in Saudi Arabia. Adnan Abu Foul and his wife, Um Ibrahim, wept as they watched pilgrims circumambulate the Kaaba on a small mobile phone screen.

“The war stopped, and we hoped to perform Hajj, but for three years, I haven’t been able to leave,” Abu Foul said.

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs, more than 10,000 citizens have been prevented from performing Hajj over three years due to the Israeli shutdown of the Rafah crossing, which borders Egypt.

At least 71 Hajj pilgrims, who had won the official draw in previous years, died during the Israeli war before they could perform the ritual, according to the Awqaf.

Economic collapse

The deprivation of Gaza’s pilgrims extends beyond border closures, revealing a systematic dismantling of the enclave’s religious tourism economy.

A study published in May 2026 by the Palestinian Center for Political Studies (PCPS), authored by researcher Khaled Abu Amer, describes the Israeli campaign against Gaza’s Hajj and Umrah sector as a “structural economic genocide”. Umrah is an optional pilgrimage to Mecca that Muslims can perform at any time of the year.

The study reveals a complete collapse of all 78 licensed travel companies in the sector. Mohammed al-Astal, head of the Association of Hajj and Umrah Companies in Gaza, noted that the vast majority of offices were damaged or destroyed in the conflict.

This destruction resulted in capital losses exceeding $4m, alongside an estimated $2-3m in frozen funds held by external agents, such as airlines and hotels in Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Before the war, the sector injected at least $12m annually into the local economy. The loss of this revenue has impacted more than 1,500 direct and indirect workers and their livelihoods.

Mohammed Abdul Bari, a local Hajj organiser, stood before the rubble of his company, recalling how they used to deploy 20 buses in massive farewell festivals that have now vanished into the ruins.

Collective punishment

The PCPS report argues that the repeated targeting of the sector proves the destruction is an intentional policy rather than accidental collateral damage.

This systematic eradication legally constitutes “collective punishment”, which is strictly prohibited under Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Furthermore, denying residents the ability to travel for religious purposes through Israeli-controlled crossings represents 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 constitutes a violation of Article 53 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the destruction of civilian property.

Due to the blockade, the annual Hajj quota of around 3,000 is currently being filled by Palestinians holding Gaza IDs residing in Egypt and other countries. Thousands of spots have also been temporarily transferred to pilgrims from the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, with an official agreement to compensate Gaza with these numbers in future seasons.

For now, however, thousands of Gaza’s elderly and sick remain trapped, holding onto fading hopes.

“We could not organise the season because we were given no guarantees that the crossing would open,” said Rami Abu Staitah, director general of Hajj and Umrah at the Waqf Ministry. “The preparations require early, complex contracts for housing and transport, which are impossible under these conditions.”

The ministry has urgently appealed to the international community, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt to intervene, urging them to separate the religious pilgrimage from political calculations.