Hundreds of Palestinians allowed to leave Gaza for Umrah pilgrimage

Some 800 Palestinians crossed from the besieged Gaza Strip into Egypt on Sunday to begin their journey to Mecca for the the first time since 2014.

It marks the first time Egyptian authorities have granted visas for the trip in some five years. 

The pilgrims, set to take part in the Umrah pilgrimage, left at around dawn and were to be met by buses on the Egyptian side to bring them to Cairo's airport, from where they would fly to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, said a Palestinian official at the Rafah crossing in the Gaza Strip.

Fifteen Gazans among the 800 were not authorised to cross, according to a Palestinian security official at Rafah, without providing the reasons.

Security sources on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing confirmed it was the first such permission for the Muslim Umrah pilgrimage since the start of Egyptian military operations in northern Sinai in 2014.

Umrah is the lesser pilgrimage to Mecca that can be completed throughout the year, as opposed to the annual Hajj pilgrimage.

Around 2,500 pilgrims are authorised annually to leave Gaza via Egypt for the H

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ajj, one of the five pillars of Islam that Muslims must undertake at least once in their lifetime.

Gaza, run by Hamas, has been under an Israeli blockade for more than a decade. Gaza militants and Israel have fought three wars since 2008.

The Rafah crossing with Egypt is the only one out of Gaza not controlled by Israel. It had been largely closed in recent years, but was reopened some 10 months ago.

Around 300 travellers use it daily in either direction, according to figures dating to December provided by the Gisha NGO, which monitors the blockade on Gaza.