Umrah agents cash in on Ramadan

July 1, 2014

Riyadh, Jul 1: Travel operators in Riyadh will increase the prices of weekend Umrah packages from SR90 per head to SR160 from Wednesday thanks to the influx of pilgrims during Ramadan.

Demand is expected to be heavy until the end of the Ramadan season.

This year, the peak season coincides with the summer holidays. As such, a large number of vacationers, including Saudis, are expected to perform Umrah.

A leading hotelier in Makkah said that foreign pilgrims are less compared to last year thanks to factors such as the World Cup and the MERS.

“The majority of pilgrims come from the Kingdom, as well as from the Gulf countries,” he said. “Other pilgrims come from countries such as Egypt, Turkey, Algeria, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Indonesia.”

Accommodation at five-star hotels skyrockets to anywhere between SR31,000 to SR40,000 for a 10-day period near the end of Ramadan.

There are nearly 275 Umrah travel operators spread out in the capital, but their largest concentration is located in the city center in Batha.

Riyadh’s Dawah Center has arranged 45 coaches to ferry Umrah pilgrims from the capital free-of-charge.

Moulavi Ramzan from the center told Arab News that program beneficiaries are mainly singles from Asian and Arab countries.

Accommodation, transport and iftar will be given to the pilgrims, he said.

A return fare from Riyadh to Makkah by luxury coach, including accommodation in Makkah, will cost SR160 per pilgrim. An additional charge of SR20 will be incurred if the pilgrim opts to visit the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah en route to Makkah.

Accommodation can be upgraded to four-star standards for a mere SR100.

According to a sales executive from Al-Rushd, a travel operator in the city, the trip to Makkah and Madinah sets out at 4 p.m. from Riyadh on Wednesday and ends on Friday at midnight.

Each family is given a large room, while bachelors are accommodated on a sharing basis, with three pilgrims per room. Children under 12 have to pay half the fare. “We will provide three-star hotel accommodation for our customers,” he said.

Another travel agent said a five-day package to Makkah and Madinah, including travel and accommodation, will cost a pilgrim only SR250.

The offer includes a two-day stay at a three-star hotel in Madinah and another two-day lodging at a similar hotel in Makkah. The journey begins on Monday and ends on Friday.

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Israel launches bloody ground offensive into Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp

News Network

May 12,2024

Israeli military tanks have started to go deeper into the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza as part of a ground offensive months after claiming Hamas had been “dismantled” in the area.

Israeli forces are “carpet-bombing” the eastern areas of Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, killing and wounding several Palestinians, Al-Jazeara reported citing local sources on Sunday.

Israeli military tanks have advanced further into the Jabalia refugee camp, crossing Salah al-Din Street amidst ongoing battles with Hamas fighters, reports added.

Media quoted eyewitnesses as saying that the tanks are surrounding evacuation centers and residential buildings in the densely populated area, leading to mass evacuations and displacement towards the western part of Gaza City.

Also, Israeli drones targeted ambulances near the clinic run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Jabalia, according to Mahmoud Basal, the spokesperson for the civil defense directorate in Gaza.

Basal stated that emergency crews in Rafah, al-Zaytounm, al-Sabra, and Jabalia have been inundated with distress calls, confirming that these areas were subjected to overnight bombardment.

Shortage of oxygen for patients

Imad Abu Zayda, an emergency doctor in Jabalia, warned of the critical conditions prevailing there due to the recent Israeli aggression in the area.

“No light due to the lack of fuel and there’s no medical supplement available as Israel has expanded their operation in the area. We have no oxygen to give to patients,” he said.

He added that the majority of those injured are children and women, and the medical team is grappling with limited resources to provide essential care.

All hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip are now out of service, following a warning from the UN about the risk of running out of fuel in hospitals across the region.

Israel’s closure of the Rafah crossing has also prevented aid trucks from entering the area since May 5.

The Jabalia refugee camp, established in 1948 to accommodate Palestinians who were displaced after the Nakba, or catastrophe, which refers to the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948, has become the most densely populated refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.

With over 750,000 Palestinians forcefully displaced, this camp stands as a testament to the birth of Israel in 1948.

Since the start of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip on October 7, Israeli forces carried out several attacks on Jabilia camp, leaving it in ruins by intense bombardment.

In early February, Israeli forces withdrew from the camp claiming it had destroyed Hamas as a fighting force in the northern areas.

On Saturday, the Israeli military ordered residents of the Jabalia Refugee Camp to evacuate “immediately”, as it prepares to launch military operations against Hamas.

However, the displaced residents have no place to seek refuge, as the UN reports a severe famine in the region.

Since the start of the offensive, the Tel Aviv regime has killed more than 34,971 Palestinians and injured more than 78,641 others, mostly women and children.

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