The ongoing forced displacement of nearly two million Palestinians, and the comprehensive destruction of civilian property and civilian infrastructure in the occupied Gaza Strip, highlight Israel's horrific record of displacing Palestinians, and its continued refusal to respect their right to return over the past 76 years, Amnesty International said.

The organization added in a statement, today, Wednesday, on the occasion of the commemoration of the 76th anniversary of the Nakba, that Israel displaced more than 800,000 Palestinians following its establishment in 1948.

It continued, "In recent days, Israel has forcibly displaced more than 150,000 Palestinians from Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, coinciding with the intensification of its ground and air operations in the region, endangering thousands of lives and preventing the arrival of necessary humanitarian aid."

It stressed that "most of those who fled were already displaced many times due to the merciless Israeli military attack on the Gaza Strip for seven months."

“Generations of Palestinians across the occupied territories have been traumatized by being uprooted from their land and having their property seized multiple times with no hope of returning to their homes, leaving a deep wound on their souls,” said Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty International’s Director of Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns. ".

She pointed out that "it is very horrifying to see the frightening scenes (of the catastrophe) of the 1948 Nakba, as the Palestinians call it, repeated, with large numbers of them in the Gaza Strip forced to flee their homes on foot, in search of safety, time after time, and the Israeli army and the supported colonists displacing them." Palestinians in the West Bank from their homes.

Rosas pointed out that "as a result of the conflict between 1947-1949, Palestinians were forced to leave their homes and were displaced from their lands. They were displaced and deported without any hope in the foreseeable future of the return of themselves, their children, or their grandchildren."

She continued, "The same fate befell more than 350,000 Palestinians who fled due to the June 1967 war and Israel's occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. It was found in a 2022 report by Amnesty International that the expropriation of Palestinian lands and property based on discrimination deprives them of their rights, and... This includes the right of return, which is a major policy of the Israeli apartheid regime.”

Rosas explained: “On this anniversary of the Nakba, the fate of the Palestinians is at risk more than ever. They have been deprived of their lands and subjected to systematic human rights violations under a brutal occupation. The residents of the Gaza Strip also face the imminent threat of genocide and suffer from famine.”

She stressed that "for this reason, today more than ever, it is more important to raise a loud cry for the Palestinians' right to return, and to remind the world that Israel is still depriving them of this legitimate right in flagrant violation of international law for more than 76 years," calling on countries to respect The rights of those seeking to express their solidarity with Palestinians through peaceful protests to commemorate the Nakba.”

She explained, "Israel's deprivation of the Palestinians' right of return for decades is one of the root causes of the conflict, and the escalation of violence over the past seven months demonstrates the necessity of not ignoring this right any longer. Any sustainable and just solution to this conflict must respect human rights, including the Palestinians' right to return, and to ensure justice and compensation for victims of human rights violations.”

The organization said in its statement that the United Nations General Assembly and the UN Security Council have constantly called on Israel to facilitate the return of the Palestinians, yet it has not even recognized the Palestinians’ right to return, despite the binding resolutions issued by the Council.

It indicated that the international community should do everything in its power to prevent further forced displacement of Palestinians, and change their permanent displacement status by enabling them to effectively exercise their right to return, and an immediate and sustainable ceasefire should be achieved in the Gaza Strip.