Amnesty International Says Israel’s Gaza Displacement Threatens Palestinians’ Right of Return

Nearly two million Palestinians have been forcibly displaced, and Amnesty International said the mass displacement in the occupied Gaza Strip underscores the urgency for Israel to respect the Palestinians’ right of return for 76 years, as mentioned on Nakba Day.

“By Penny Green, January 11, 2026 Israel's destruction of the Jenin and Tulkarm refugee camps tears families from their homes, destroys communities, and accelerates the erasure of Palestinians”

Agence Media Palestine

Amnesty International said that in recent days more than 150,000 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced from Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip while Israel intensifies its ground and air operations in the area, endangering thousands of lives and blocking access to crucial humanitarian aid.

Agence Media Palestine

Amnesty International’s Executive Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns, Erika Guevara Rosas, said, “Generations of Palestinians in the occupied territories are deeply scarred by the trauma caused by multiple uprootings and dispossessions, with no prospect of return to their homes.”

The UN marked the 75th anniversary of the Nakba, commemorating on Monday for the first time in its history the mass displacement of Palestinians from the land that would become Israel, which transformed almost overnight 700,000 Palestinians into refugees.

UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo said, “The position of the United Nations is clear: the occupation must end.”

In Gaza, TRT World reported that Yusuf Abu Hamam, 78 years old and one of a dwindling number of Nakba survivors, said, “There is no country left, a square kilometre and a half extending from the sea… it's indescribable, unbearable.”

TRT World also quoted Meritorious Professor of International Relations and former Dean Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Karachi, Moonis Ahmar, saying, “Thousands of Palestinians were killed in Gaza. Around 2.1 million people were displaced, the majority of them forced from their homes.”

Al Jazeera

Amnesty International framed the right of return as a central issue, with Erika Guevara Rosas saying on Nakba Day that Israel denies Palestinians this legitimate right “for more than 76 years,” in flagrant violation of international law.

In a message shared via the X account of the Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to the United Nations, Spanish actor Javier Bardem said, “We understand that the Nakba never ended. It is playing out today in Gaza as genocide and in the West Bank as ethnic cleansing and apartheid.”

The UN’s commemorations also included remarks from President of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas, who said, “The occupation will end. The rights of the Palestinians will prevail sooner or later.”

Amnesty International said Israel’s intensification of ground and air operations in Rafah has been endangering thousands of lives and blocking access to crucial humanitarian aid, while most of those who fled have already been displaced multiple times.

“Jabalia, Gaza – Inside his partially destroyed home in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, 85-year-old Abdel Mahdi al-Wuheidi sits beside a small fire brewing coffee, staring at what remains of a life, now surrounded by rubble”

Al Jazeera

Amnesty International warned that Gaza’s inhabitants are grappling with famine and face the imminent risk of genocide, and it called for an immediate and lasting ceasefire by all parties in Gaza.

Amnesty International also said the General Assembly and the United Nations Security Council consistently urge Israel to facilitate the return of Palestinians, while Israel does not even recognize the Palestinians’ right to return.

UN News said the UNRWA states that 5.9 million Palestinians are currently registered as refugees, and it described the fate of Palestinian refugees as the world’s longest-running refugee crisis.

UN News quoted UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini saying, “More than ever, they need our collective solidarity,” and added, “There is simply no alternative to a political solution for all.”