Palestinians held a march in the occupied West Bank city of Ramala to commemorate the mass confiscation of Naqbah, or “catastrophe,” during Israel’s founding in 1948.
While Israeli leaders continue to express their desire to empty Palestinian territory, more than 50,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, and aid lockdowns have threatened hunger.
Israeli forces, which had also been occupied by the West Bank since 1967, have driven out tens of thousands of people from refugee camps as part of a major military operation.
This year marks the 77th anniversary of Naqba, an estimated 750,000 Palestinians fled or fled the land after Israel declared themselves an independent state of territory.
In Ramala, Palestinian flags and branded “returns” flew at a road crossing on Wednesday, with school children taking buses in the city centre to take part in the week’s anniversary.
At one event, a young boy wearing a Palestinian Kufier scarf waved a flag and carried a giant replica key.
There are no plans in Gaza for events in which residents have been evacuated to poverty due to more than 19 months of war and Israeli bombing.
Moamun Al Sherbini, a resident of Khan Yunis city in southern Gaza, told AFP News that he felt history was being repeated.
“Our life here in Gaza has become one long Nakba, we have lost our loved ones, our homes have been destroyed, our livelihoods have been lost.”
Almost all of Gaza’s 2.4 million people were evacuated at least once during the Israeli war.
In early May, Israel’s security cabinet approved a plan for an expanded military attack in Gaza. This drove out its people on a massive scale, eliciting international condemnation with the aim of “conquering” the territory.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government is working to find a third country to steal Gaza’s population a few months after President Donald Trump proposed that they be expelled and that the territory would be redeveloped as a holiday destination.
“Nakba Day is no longer a memory. It’s the daily reality we live in Gaza,” said 36-year-old Malak Radwan from Nusayrat, in the heart of the enclave.
“This is a tragic day in the lives of Palestinian refugees,” said Nael Nacre, 52, of Ramallah.
Palestinian refugees maintain their demands to return to their current villages and cities in Israel.
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