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Two Million Muslims Unite In Prayers For Halt To Palestinian Bloodshed
MECCA, Saudi Arabia, March 2 (News Agencies) - Around two million Muslims united in calling for an end to Palestinian bloodshed in Friday prayers at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, the holiest site in Islam, on the eve of the annual hajj pilgrimage.
"We call on the decision-makers and leaders to work to stop the bloodshed against our brothers in Palestine," said prayer leader Sheikh Mohammad bin Abdullah al-Sabil, as many of the worshippers wept.
He also prayed for "the liberation of [Jerusalem's] Al-Aqsa mosque," the third holiest site in Islam and which the prayer leader charged was being "held captive by a gang of Zionist Jews."
More than 420 people have been killed, mostly Palestinians, in clashes with Israel since late September.
Sabil's sermon also called for "unity among Muslims, by taking as an example the hajj," for which around 1.5 million Muslims have traveled to Mecca in western Saudi Arabia from around the world, joining 500,000 residents of the kingdom.
Amid tight security, pilgrims started to pour into the Grand Mosque complex from five in the morning and stayed on for the mid-day prayers on Friday, the Muslim holy day and the last day before the hajj rituals start in earnest.
They prayed in the humidity under a sweltering sun, with temperatures soaring to 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) in the shade.
Saudi Arabia has mobilized its health, security, traffic and water agencies in Mecca, as part of a series of measures to avoid fire and stampede tragedies in past years that cost hundreds of lives.
The interior ministry has completed a security plan aimed at protecting the pilgrims.
Only people with special permits are allowed into Mecca and authorities have closed off roads leading to holy sites outside the city in a bid to facilitate the movement of pilgrims.
The water department in Mecca began Thursday to pump fresh water to the main sites of the hajj.
Ten million cubic meters (350 million cubic feet) of water, mainly for sanitation, will be supplied over the coming week. Authorities are also planning to distribute more than 10 million bottles of drinking water.
On Saturday, the hajj - which every able-bodied Muslim with the means must carry out at least once in a lifetime - moves to Mina, a valley outside Mecca where the pilgrims will be housed in fireproof tents.
The pilgrims will keep an all-night vigil in Mina, and on Sunday, the faithful will gather at Mount Arafat, 12 kilometers (seven miles) away, to pray until sunset for forgiveness at the site of Prophet Mohammad's (SAW) last sermon.
On Monday, the start of the Al-Adha (sacrifice) feast, the faithful will sacrifice a sheep and start to stone three pillars that symbolize Satan. The "Stoning of Satan" continues for three days.
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