Many of the families whose grandparents were displaced in 1948 remain displaced today, living in tents in Gaza and in refugee camps in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. Palestinians in the occupied West Bank also continue to experience the destruction of their homes, schools and sources of livelihoods.
More than 2 million people remain displaced within Gaza, many of them multiple times over; and over 1.2 million people - almost 60 percent of the Gaza Strip population - have lost their homes.
Israel’s genocide has caused catastrophic damage to Gaza’s education system, leaving an estimated 728,000 children and youth without formal schooling for more than two years and resulting in the deaths of thousands of students and hundreds of educators.
The deteriorating situation in the West Bank
In the occupied West Bank, schools, which should be places of safety and stability, are sites of fear. There have been 99 documented education-related incidents in 2026 alone, including the killing, injury and detention of students, the demolition of schools, the military use of school buildings, and denial of access.
In the first four months of this year, more than 2,500 Palestinians - including 1,100 children - have been displaced in the occupied West Bank, exceeding the total recorded in all of 2025. March 2026 saw the highest number of Palestinians injured by settler attacks in the past 20 years. Almost 350 Palestinian children from the West Bank are being held in Israeli military detention - the highest number in eight years.
An urgent call to the international community
The 78th anniversary of the Nakba carries particular urgency. Six months on, the ceasefire has failed to end the genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, with ongoing airstrikes and severe restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid. As a result, humanitarian conditions continue to deteriorate at an alarming pace. Meanwhile, violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank has reached record levels.
The NEU calls on the Government of Israel to respect the ceasefire, ensure the protection of civilians, and urgently allow unhindered humanitarian aid into Gaza. We urge the UK Government to take all meaningful legal, diplomatic and economic action to hold perpetrators accountable and bring an end to Israel’s systematic violations of international law, atrocities against Palestinians, and illegal occupation.