Muslim pilgrims have been streaming into Makkah ahead of the start of the Hajj later this week.
Saudi officials said more than 1.5 million foreign pilgrims arrived in the country by Tuesday 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.
The pilgrims included 4,200 Palestinians from the occupied West Bank who arrived in Makkah 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 conflict.
On Tuesday, pilgrims thronged the Grand Mosque in Makkah, performing a ritual circuit walking seven times around the Kaaba.
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Many were seen carrying umbrellas against the sun, in temperatures reaching 42 degrees Celsius (107 Fahrenheit) during the day on Tuesday.
Pilgrims do the circumambulation, known as “Tawaf” in Arabic, upon arriving in Makkah.
On Friday, pilgrims will move to the Mountain of Arafat for a daylong vigil, then to Muzdalifah, a rocky plain area a few miles away. In Muzdalifah, pilgrims collect pebbles to be used in the symbolic stoning of pillars representing the devil back in Mina.
One of the world’s largest religious gatherings, the Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam. All Muslims are required to undertake it at least once in their lives if they are physically and financially able to do so.
