Palestinian refugees

Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General, meets with internally displaced people in Rafah during his visit to the Gaza Strip, Dec. 12, 2023 (UNRWA Photo)

‘If UNRWA implodes tomorrow, there’d be no alternative’

Still functioning despite Israel's ban, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini explains how the agency is laying the groundwork for future Palestinian institutions.

By Ghousoon Bisharat and Meron Rapoport February 27, 2025

Palestinians walk on the street in Yarmouk, December 19, 2024. (Salvador Soler)

In Syria’s war-scarred Yarmouk Camp, Palestinians begin long path to recovery

Syria's largest Palestinian refugee camp was brutally besieged and almost entirely depopulated during the civil war. Now, returnees are starting to rebuild — but face extreme poverty and deep political uncertainty.

By Salvador Soler January 10, 2025

Palestinians who fled their homes wait at the Rafah border crossing to Egypt in the southern Gaza Strip, on October 14, 2023. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

In Egypt, Gazans endure ‘unbearable’ life with little support

Over 100,000 Palestinians have fled to Egypt during the war. Feeling stranded by the state and the PA, they describe a precarious existence in legal limbo.

By Hadi Rami November 22, 2024

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Palestinians at the site of an Israeli airstrike at a UNRWA school in the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, June 6, 2024. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

Israel’s paradoxical crusade against UNRWA

Israeli officials are relying on UNRWA to prevent a polio epidemic — while the Knesset advances laws to expel the agency.

By Jonathan Adler October 10, 2024

Palestinians run through Nuseirat following an Israeli attack on the camp, June 8, 2024. (Khaled Ali/Flash90)

‘How is it reasonable to kill over 200 for the sake of four?’

Relentless bombing, hospitals overflowing, soldiers in aid trucks: survivors recount the massacre in Nuseirat refugee camp during Israel’s hostage rescue.

By Ruwaida Amer June 13, 2024

Marah Mahdi with her niece near her family's tent in Rafah. (Marah Mahdi/Instagram)

A Gaza journalist’s agonizing search for safety

From Gaza City to Rafah, Marah Mahdi and her family have been displaced 11 times since October. Yet surviving each Israeli attack brings little solace.

By Mohammed R. Mhawish and Asmaa Yassin June 4, 2024

Smoke rises after an Israeli air strike in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 7, 2024. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

‘The scenes of the Nakba are repeating’: Rafah in panic as Israeli invasion begins

With Israeli forces entering Gaza’s southernmost city, Palestinians describe their hardships and fears in the Strip’s last vanishing refuge.

By Ruwaida Amer and Mahmoud Mushtaha May 8, 2024

First Intifada in the Gaza Strip, 1987. (Efi Sharir/Dan Hadani Collection, The Pritzker Family National Photography Collection, The National Library of Israel)

Why is Gaza so central to the Palestinian struggle?

The history of Gaza illuminates how the tiny enclave has long encapsulated Palestinian identity — and why it is now the focal point of a regional crisis.

By Anne Irfan January 2, 2024

Palestinians fleeing the northern Gaza Strip after the Israeli army ordered them to evacuate the area within 24 hours, during Israel's assault on the strip, October 13, 2023. (Mohammed Zaanoun)

Thousands fleeing, a deadly explosion: My drive through Gaza’s escape route

After Israel ordered Gazans to evacuate the north, I rushed through the strip's main road to rescue family members. It was the most difficult day of my life.

By Mohammed Zaanoun October 14, 2023

Zaid Abdulnasser, a Palestinian refugee from Syria living in Berlin, and activist with Samidoun, October 1, 2023. (Courtesy)

Germany to strip Palestinian refugee’s status over his activism

Echoing dubious Israeli claims against his advocacy group, Germany could force Zaid Abdulnasser into a legal limbo faced by thousands of Palestinians.

By Hebh Jamal October 2, 2023

+972 editor Vera Sajrawi stands in front of the well in the depopulated village of Al-Sajara. (Maria Zreik)

‘Your grandparents couldn’t return to Al-Sajara. But I know they died hoping’

Little remains of the village from which +972 editor Vera Sajrawi’s grandparents were uprooted in 1948. Living out the rest of their lives close by as internal refugees, they yearned for what was taken from them.

By Vera Sajrawi September 22, 2023

Rubble on the streets of the West Bank city of Jenin, following a major Israeli aerial and ground offensive in Jenin, in one of Israel's biggest military operations in the Palestinian territory in years, July 4, 2023. (Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90)

Israel’s war on refugee camps seeks to correct its mistake of 1948

Refugee camps have long been a nexus of Israeli oppression and Palestinian resistance. The Jenin invasion reveals a new stage in that battle.

By Ameer Makhoul August 1, 2023

A mural in the Jenin refugee camp, West Bank, October 10, 2006. (Anne Paq/Activestills)

Dispelling the myths about Palestinian refugees — in Jenin and beyond

With Israel's Jenin invasion sparking a new round of misinformation, here are the truths behind five hasbara tropes on Palestinian refugees.

By Anne Irfan July 9, 2023