Palestinians mark 76th “Nakba,” because the raging Israel-Hamas conflict leaves them to endure a model new disaster

Ramallah, West Financial institution — For Palestinians, Wednesday marks the “Nakba.” The phrase means disaster, and the date marks the mass displacement in 1948 of greater than 700,000 Palestinians upon the formation of the trendy state of Israel.

It has been 76 years since that occurred, however this 12 months, Palestinians are additionally commemorating what some are calling a second Nakba — the present conflict within the Gaza Strip, which has been maybe essentially the most horrific and the bloodiest chapter within the historical past of the Palestinian folks.

Since Gaza’s Hamas rulers sparked the conflict with their Oct. 7 terrorist assaults on Israel, greater than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s retaliatory offensive within the territory, based on its well being ministry. The United Nations estimates that at the very least 1.7 million folks — greater than half of Gaza’s inhabitants — have been displaced from their houses because the conflict began.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been adamant since Oct. 7 that the one approach to answer Hamas’ slaughter of some 1,200 folks is to destroy the group, and he is vowed to hold out a floor offensive in Rafah, the final Gazan metropolis to this point spared an all-out assault.

Israel says there are 4 Hamas battalions nonetheless there, however there are additionally a whole bunch of hundreds of civilians who sought refuge within the southern metropolis over seven months of conflict, and the U.S. and different Israeli allies have warned in opposition to a full-scale floor invasion.

A lot of the remainder of Gaza has already been left in ruins by Israel’s overwhelming firepower — a lot of it provided by the U.S., and with way more mentioned to be on the way in which quickly.

For the Palestinian folks, it is already been a disaster on a scale far better than the violence and displacement of 76 years in the past, and with the prospect of a Rafah incursion looming, hundreds have fled in worry for his or her lives once more.

On Tuesday, Israelis marked their Independence Day. Usually a time of celebration, this 12 months’s commemorations have been largely somber, as Israelis proceed to name on their leaders to succeed in a deal to free the roughly 100 hostages nonetheless believed to be alive and held by Hamas or different teams in Gaza.

CBS Information’ Tucker Reals contributed to this report.