It is Islam's holiest pilgrimage, but the hajj to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, which begins on Wednesday, has in recent decades been plagued by deadly disasters, from stampedes to militant attacks.

Last year, 1,301 pilgrims, most of them unregistered and lacking access to air-conditioned tents and buses, died as temperatures soared to 51.8 degrees Celsius.

Here are some incidents that have marred the centuries-old pilgrimage:

- Stampedes -

A fire in Kuwait killed 49 people when it ripped through a building housing nearly 200 foreign workers on Wednesday, the government said.

The blaze, which broke out in the six-storey building south of Kuwait City at around dawn, also left dozens injured, the health ministry said.

Flames engulfed the lower floors as black smoke poured out of the upper-storey windows, unverified images posted on social media showed.

The interior ministry revised the death toll up to 49, from 35 issued earlier, after forensic teams scoured the charred building.

The annual hajj pilgrimage, one of the five pillars of Islam, will start on Wednesday with well over one million Muslims from around the world expected to take part.

All Muslims are expected to complete the hajj to Mecca -- from which non-Muslims are strictly banned -- at least once in their lives if they have the means to do so.

Believers converge on the holy city for several days of rituals in which they retrace the Prophet Mohammed's last pilgrimage.

Here is a rundown of the ceremonies at what is usually one of the largest religious gatherings in the world:

Top US diplomat Antony Blinken said Wednesday that a truce and hostage release deal to end the Gaza war was still possible, wrapping up a Middle East tour as deadly fighting rocked the Palestinian territory.

Lebanon's Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, rained rockets on northern Israel, a day after an Israeli strike killed one of its senior commanders.

Blinken, in Doha for the last stop of a tour to promote President Joe Biden's Gaza ceasefire roadmap, said the United States would work with regional partners to "close the deal".

As violence surges in the occupied West Bank, Palestinians and human rights groups decry an increasingly blurry distinction between the Israeli army and settlers, emboldened by the current pro-settlement government.

In the West Bank, the "line that never really existed between the army and the settlers" has now "been completely erased", said Joe Carmel, advocacy coordinator for Breaking the Silence, an Israeli anti-occupation NGO made up of former soldiers.

Lebanese militant group Hezbollah fired barrages of rockets at Israel on Wednesday and vowed to intensify its attacks after an Israeli strike killed a senior commander in south Lebanon the previous day.

Hezbollah has traded near-daily cross-border fire with Israeli forces since its Palestinian ally Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, triggering war in the Gaza Strip.

The exchanges have escalated in recent weeks, with Hezbollah stepping up its use of drones to attack Israeli military positions and Israel hitting back with targeted strikes against the militants.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken touched down in Doha on Wednesday for talks with key mediator Qatar after Hamas gave its response to a US-led proposal for a ceasefire in war-ravaged Gaza.

Blinken, on a four-country swing around the Middle East to push Hamas to accept the truce plan, will meet the top leadership in the gas-rich Gulf state, which has transmitted messages to the Palestinian militant group.

Hundreds of thousands of Muslims have flocked to the Saudi holy city of Mecca for the hajj pilgrimage, unfolding this year in the shadow of the Gaza war.

One of the world's largest annual religious gatherings officially begins on Friday, and Saudi officials are trying to keep the focus on prayers.

The Gulf kingdom's minister in charge of religious pilgrimages, Tawfiq al-Rabiah, warned last week that "no political activity" will be tolerated.

The hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, must be performed at least once by all Muslims with the means.

After the roar of Israeli warplanes terrified her baby grandson, Umm Hassan's family sought solace on a south Lebanon beach, hoping to escape the escalating cross-border violence.

Life goes on but "the children are frightened", the 60-year-old told AFP from the beach in Tyre, about 20 kilometres (12.4 miles) from the Israel-Lebanon frontier.

Women in two-piece swimsuits tanned in the sun, while others fully clothed and wearing head coverings enjoyed the waves, even as the bombardment sometimes echoed in the distance.

The United Arab Emirates is in "complete alignment" with the US on developing artificial intelligence, the oil-rich country's AI minister told AFP, confirming a shift away from China.

Omar Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, was speaking Tuesday after a state-linked Emirati AI firm secured a major investment from Microsoft, reportedly divesting Chinese interests as part of the deal.