Palestinians on Wednesday pledged to keep resisting Israeli efforts to remove them from their lands amid the war in Gaza as they marked the 76th year since the Nakba, or Catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands were expelled in 1948.
Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa stressed that the Palestinian people will foil "all Israeli ongoing expulsion attempts that have been taking place since 1948."
He said violence against Palestinians across the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, including by illegal Israeli settlers assaults, "will not push (Palestinian) people to bow and surrender or move away (from their lands)."
Commemorating the anniversary, Palestinian group Hamas said Israel's ongoing "aggression," taking place for 76 years, "constitutes a stain in the face of those silent and those lagging behind in exposing (Israeli crimes) and in working to stopping them."
The Gaza-based group appealed to "free peoples" of the world to exert pressure "with all means to stop the Zionist aggression against (Palestinian) land, people and sanctities."
It also urged for "supporting the resilience and struggle of our (Palestinian) people looking for freedom and independence."
The Nakba, or Catastrophe in Arabic, is marked by the Palestinians on May 15 to remember the expulsion of hundreds of thousands from their homes and lands in 1948 after the founding of Israel.
The global Palestinian population reached 14.63 million as of the end of last year, marking a tenfold increase since the events of the Nakba in 1948, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.
This year's anniversary comes amid the ongoing Israeli devastating onslaught against the Gaza Strip that has been taking place since Oct. 7 of last year, as well as intensified illegal Israeli settlers' assaults and violence against the Palestinian people across the West Bank.
Israel has waged a brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip in retaliation for an Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack, which killed 1,200 people.
More than 35,100 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, the vast majority of whom have been women and children, and over 79,000 others injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.
While in the West Bank, nearly 500 Palestinians have been killed since Oct. 7, along with thousands of wounded people and daily arrest campaigns by the Israeli army.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered Tel Aviv to ensure its forces do not commit acts of genocide and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza. Anadolu