‘Nakba’ continues: Palestinian official says Israel’s Gaza, West Bank escalation is a repeat of 1948

A Palestinian official has described Israel’s ongoing military operations in Gaza and the occupied West Bank as a “continuation of the Nakba,” the mass displacement of Palestinians during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Ahmad Abu Holi, a senior Palestinian official, told Turkish state news agency Anadolu that his people cannot be broken despite severe hardship. “Our people have proven over these decades that they cannot be broken, despite all impossible conditions, including starvation, thirst, deprivation of education and systematic attacks,” he said. The Nakba, Arabic for “catastrophe,” refers to the 1948 conflict when more than 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes. Abu Holi’s statement links current violence to that history, though he provided no specific details on recent casualty figures or displacement numbers. Israel launched its latest Gaza offensive after Hamas’s October 7 attack. In the West Bank, Israeli forces have increased raids and settlement expansions, drawing widespread international criticism.