World Refugee Day: UNRWA Compares Israel’s Forced Displacement in Gaza to the 1948 Palestinian Nakba
Gaza (Quds News Network)- The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has drawn a stark comparison between the current mass forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza amid the ongoing Israeli genocide and the 1948 Nakba, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were ethnically cleansed by Zionist militia during the establishment of Israel.
“77 years later, Palestinians continue to be forcibly displaced,” it said in a post on X to mark World Refugee Day.
In 1948, more than 700,000 Palestinians were displaced from their towns and villages.
77 years later, Palestinians continue to be forcibly displaced. Since the war in #Gaza began, around 1.9 million people have been forced to flee their homes.#WorldRefugeeDay pic.twitter.com/S8PdDX9Ysw
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) June 19, 2025
On the United Nations’ World Refugee Day on Friday, nearly 6 million Palestinian refugees, scattered around the world, continue to seize upon their dream to return to their houses and lands, which were occupied by Zionist militia in 1948.
The Palestinian Nakba, which formed the basis for the creation of ‘Israel’, was for the Palestinian people the beginning of long-term suffering, where over 80,000 Palestinians were displaced in 1948 and over 200,000 others followed them in 1967.
Since launching its assault on Gaza in October 2023, the Israeli military has issued dozens of forced displacement orders to Palestinians in the war-torn enclave amid intense bombardment and months-long blockade on aid. The most recent order, issued on June 17, targeted several neighborhoods in the southern city of Khan Younis.
As of June 13, according to OCHA, people in Gaza are confined to ever-shrinking spaces, with 82 per cent of the Gaza Strip now within the Israeli-militarized zone, under displacement orders, or where these overlap. The UN estimates that nearly 665,000 people have been displaced yet again since March 18, including over 227,000 between 15 May and 11 June.
