As millions of Muslims gather in Mecca, Palestinians in Gaza face a third year of heartbreak as Israel has shut the border.

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.

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.

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.

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.