RAMALLAH, (PIC)
Palestinians marked the 78th anniversary of the Nakba on Friday under the shadow of the bloodiest and most devastating chapters in modern Palestinian history, as Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip continues alongside escalating killings, displacement and destruction across the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem.
The anniversary comes amid growing Palestinian warnings that Israel is attempting to impose a new Nakba through military force, mass displacement and political measures targeting Palestinians across historic Palestine.
Palestinians commemorate the Nakba every year on 15 May, marking the mass displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their towns and villages by Zionist militias during the establishment of the Israeli state on most of historic Palestine in 1948.
This year’s commemorations were held under the slogan: “We will not leave… our roots run deeper than your destruction.” Marches, rallies and public events took place across the West Bank, Gaza and Palestinian refugee camps in the diaspora, reaffirming Palestinian national rights, foremost among them the right of return.
In Ramallah, Palestinians participated in a large central march attended by officials and community groups. Demonstrators carried Palestinian flags, black banners and symbolic keys representing the right of return, while similar events were organized in refugee camps across several Arab and foreign countries, where participants displayed the names of Palestinian towns and villages depopulated in 1948.
The Nakba remains the defining event in modern Palestinian history. For Palestinians, it is no longer viewed solely as a historical catastrophe that occurred more than seven decades ago, but as an ongoing reality reflected in displacement, exile, denial of return, war, siege and recurring forced expulsions.
According to figures released by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Zionist militias seized control of 774 Palestinian towns and villages in 1948, completely destroying 531 of them and carrying out more than 70 massacres that killed over 15,000 Palestinians.
The bureau said the global Palestinian population had reached approximately 15.49 million by the end of 2025, with more than half living outside historic Palestine, including 6.82 million in Arab countries.
The population of the State of Palestine currently stands at around 5.56 million people, including 3.43 million in the West Bank and 2.13 million in Gaza.
Gaza alone has witnessed an unprecedented population decline of roughly 254,000 people since the outbreak of the Israeli war in October 2023 because of killings, displacement and deteriorating living conditions.
This year’s Nakba anniversary coincides with the continuation of Israel’s war on Gaza despite a ceasefire agreement that took effect on 10 October 2025. Palestinians say the war has revived scenes of mass displacement and forced evacuation that mirror the original Nakba.
Since the beginning of the war, Israeli evacuation orders have become a near-daily reality for Gaza’s population, forcing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to flee their homes and neighborhoods under bombardment and military assaults.
The widespread destruction of residential areas and civilian infrastructure has rendered return impossible for many communities.
Palestinians argue that what is unfolding today in Gaza, the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem reflects the continuation of ethnic cleansing and displacement policies through different means, under what many describe as the most extreme Israeli government in the history of the occupation.
The anniversary also comes amid intensified Israeli measures aimed at tightening control over Palestinians through settlement expansion, demolitions, land confiscations, military escalation in the West Bank and new legislation targeting Palestinian prisoners.
Between the Nakba of 1948 and the mass displacement now unfolding in Gaza, Palestinians say the core of their struggle remains unchanged: exile continues in new forms, while the memory of destroyed villages and the right of return remain deeply rooted in Palestinian consciousness, 78 years after the Nakba.
