Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh and other Arab leaders on Monday arrived in Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah to take part in the annual hajj pilgrimage. 

According to local media, Shtayyeh was received by the governor of Jeddah, Prince Saud bin Abdullah bin Jalawi at King Abdulaziz International Airport. Earlier on Sunday, Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati arrived at the Prophet’s Mosque, where he was received by Saudi officials. 

Pakistan’s president Arif Alvi, his Senegalese counterpart Macky Sall and Niger Prime Minister Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou also arrived in Jeddah for the hajj, which is seeing the biggest turnover since the Covid pandemic. More than two and a half million worshippers are expected to take part in the pilgrimage, one of the five pillars of Islam. 

Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims crowded Saudi Arabia's Mount Arafat on Tuesday morning. They recited Quran verses on the rocky rise, where the Prophet Mohammed is believed to have given his final sermon.

The ritual is the high point of the annual pilgrimage. Temperatures soared to 113 Fahrenheit on Monday as worshippers shielded by umbrellas journeyed from Mecca to Mina, where they slept in a giant tented city before the rites at Mount Arafat.