GAZA, (PIC)
While the world celebrates World Refugee Day under the slogans of solidarity, protection, and the search for durable solutions to forced displacement, Palestinians commemorate the occasion this year amidst a more complex and harsh situation, with the continuation of the war in the Gaza Strip, escalating displacement operations in the West Bank, and renewed fears of targeting the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), the most prominent international witness to one of the longest refugee cases in modern history.
Palestinian data confirms that the refugee issue still represents the core of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, in light of the continuous suffering of millions of refugees inside the homeland and in the diaspora, 78 years after the Nakba.
6.2 million refugees and 42% of the population of Palestine
In this context, Member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization and Head of the Refugee Affairs Department, Ahmed Abu Houli, said that Palestinian refugees constitute about 42% of the total population of the State of Palestine, while the number of refugees registered with UNRWA is approximately 6.2 million refugees distributed among 58 official camps.
Abu Houli explained that the number of Palestinians around the world has reached about 15.5 million people, pointing out that more than 171,000 Palestinians have been martyred since the 1948 Nakba, including 74,176 martyrs since the seventh of October 2023, in addition to about 11,000 missing people who remain under the rubble.
He stressed that the issue of Palestinian refugees represents “the longest and deepest humanitarian and rights issue in modern history,” in light of the continuation of what he described as the historical injustice inflicted on the Palestinian people.
Gaza and West Bank refugee camps: Continuous displacement and widespread destruction
Abu Houli spoke about a tragic situation experienced by refugee camps in the Gaza Strip and the northern West Bank, stressing that they face an unprecedented stage of destruction and targeting.
He pointed out that about 1.9 million Palestinians have been subjected to repeated forced displacement inside the Gaza Strip, while the camps of Jenin, Tulkarem, Nur Shams, and Balata in the northern West Bank have witnessed continuous Israeli military operations that led to widespread destruction of infrastructure, homes, and water networks, and has resulted in the displacement of more than 40,000 refugees.
He considered that these policies aim to undermine the symbolism of the Palestinian refugee camp as a living witness to the right of return.
A complex displacement map and deteriorating humanitarian conditions
According to the data presented by Abu Houli, about one million displaced people are currently concentrated in 862 displacement sites inside the Gaza Strip, the largest bulk of whom are distributed in the Khan Yunis governorate, followed by the Central Governorate, while thousands of families live in destroyed facilities and temporary shelter centers in the Gaza and North governorates.
He stressed that the living environment inside the camps and displacement sites has become a direct threat to the lives of the population, as a result of the destruction of most water and sanitation networks and the spread of diseases and epidemics, coinciding with the worsening starvation and the reliance of the majority of displaced people on humanitarian aid.
UNRWA in the crosshairs of targeting
Abu Houli warned of the existential challenges facing UNRWA, pointing to what he described as continuous Israeli attempts to undermine the agency’s work and end its international mandate by targeting its facilities and pressing to dry up its funding sources.
He stressed that the targeting of the agency is not limited to its humanitarian services, but also targets its legal and political status as an international witness to the issue of Palestinian refugees and their rights.
Palestinian calls for urgent international action
For its part, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Palestinian Authority called on the international community to assume its legal and moral responsibilities towards the Palestinian people, and to take practical steps to prevent forced displacement and ensure respect for international legitimacy resolutions.
The Ministry renewed its full support for UNRWA, stressing that any attempts to compromise its mandate or replace it will not change the legal status of Palestinian refugees or detract from their inalienable rights.
It also stressed that the right of return is an inherent individual and collective right that does not lapse by prescription, and that achieving a just and comprehensive peace passes through ending the occupation and endorsing the independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
United Nations: Refugees need protection and durable solutions
At the international level, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called for strengthening solidarity with refugees around the world and working to protect them, stressing that millions of people are still forced to leave their homes due to conflict and persecution.
In a message on the occasion of World Refugee Day, Guterres stressed the importance of respecting international refugee law, protecting the right to seek asylum, and working to find solutions that guarantee refugees a safe and dignified life and real opportunities for self-reliance.
Gaza is a blatant model of forced displacement
In a related context, the Head of the Communications Directorate of the Türkiye Presidency, Burhanettin Duran, described what is happening in the Gaza Strip as one of the clearest contemporary examples of forced displacement, stressing that the cries of children, women, and civilians who lost their homes and loved ones represent a call to the global human conscience.
Duran stressed that Türkiye will continue its support for just causes and defend the rights of the oppressed, foremost among them the Palestinian people.
Return is not a utopia
In a reading of the Palestinian situation on World Refugee Day, content creator and researcher Dr. Assem Al-Jaradat said that Palestinians have never given up their right of return, but the continuation of occupation, settlement, and the decline in the effectiveness of the international system made this right seem to entire generations as if it were a “Palestinian utopia.”
He added that the real question is not why the Palestinian clings to his right of return, but why the world failed to end the longest refugee issue in modern history despite more than seven decades since its inception.
He stressed that the right of return will remain an inherent part of the Palestinian national consciousness as long as injustice exists and justice is absent.
Global solidarity with Palestinian refugees
Coinciding with World Refugee Day, several countries witnessed solidarity events in support of Palestinian refugees and in rejection of displacement policies.
In the Moroccan capital, Rabat, activists and human rights associations organized a sit-in in front of the Moroccan Parliament, during which participants raised slogans supporting the right of return and condemning Israeli violations in Gaza and the West Bank.
South Korea also witnessed a massive popular march in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and confirming the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes, in a scene that reflects the continued presence of the Palestinian cause in the global human consciousness despite the passage of decades since the Nakba. في يوم اللاجئ العالمي.. مسيرة حاشدة بكوريا الجنوبية تضامنا مع الفلسطينيين في قطاع غزة، ودعما لحق اللاجئين في العودة pic.twitter.com/FZ3O1AxsG1 — الجزيرة مباشر (@ajmubasher) June 20, 2026