‘Now all we feel is fear’: Elderly Palestinians say Gaza war worse than 1948 Nakba

Civilians in Gaza are marking 76 years since the mass dispossession of Palestinians under the shadow of a new catastrophe

This is so sad and so unnecessary – Mark

Gazanswho lived through the mass dispossession of Palestinians in 1948, which is known as the Nakba, said the catastrophe facing Gaza today is the worst they have experienced.

Palestinians marked Nakba Day on Wednesday, 76 years since the war that led to the creation of Israel that resulted in more than 750,000 Palestinians fleeing or being driven from their homes.

Many took refuge in what would later become the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and have since lived under Israeli occupation and multiple wars, including the continuing conflict in Gaza, in which more than 35,200 Palestinians have been killed since October.

“Our current catastrophe is unlike anything we’ve experienced before,” said Zaher Al Najjar, 81, who comes from the town of Huwwara near the northern Gaza Strip.

He was five years old when the Nakba occurred.

“I lived through all the Arab-Israeli wars, but a war like this, I have not seen since the first catastrophe in 1948,” he told The National.