Palestinians say Israel’s war on Gaza a second ‘Nakba’

Rafah, Palestinian Territories — AFP

As Israel’s unprecedented Gaza war continues, Palestinians remember the Nakba (catastrophe), their mass displacement during the creation of the state of Israel 76 years ago.

“Our ‘Nakba’ in 2023 is the worst ever,” said Mohammed al-Farra, whose family fled their home in Khan Yunis for the coastal area of Al-Mawasi.

“It is much harder than the Nakba of 1948.”

Palestinians everywhere have long mourned the events of that year when, during the war that led to the establishment of Israel, around 760,000 Palestinians were forced to leave their homes.

But 42-year-old Farra, whose family was then displaced from Jaffa near Tel Aviv, said the current war is even harder.

“When your child is accustomed to all the comforts and luxuries, and suddenly, overnight, everything is taken away from him… it is a big shock.”

– ‘Living the Nakba a second time’ –

“There’s pain for us, but of course more pain for Gazans,” said Manal Sarhan, 53, who has relatives in Israeli jails that have not been heard from since October 7.

“We’re living the Nakba a second time.”

The ongoing Gaza war has brought a massive death toll and displaced most of the territory’s 2.4 million people.

A devastating humanitarian crisis has plagued the territory, with the United Nations warning of a famine in the north.

Ahmed al-Akhras, 50, who was displaced from central Gaza to Rafah, also said the war is worse than anything Palestinians have endured.

“Through my experience and conversations with those who lived through the Nakba… the bombings, destruction, displacement, killing and annihilation occurring in this war are unprecedented throughout history,” he said.

By comparison, he said, back in 1948 — when his own family fled the destroyed village of Wadi Hunayn in what is now Israel — for most people “the suffering was limited to forced displacement”.