<\/p>\n
15 May 2026<\/p>\n
428th Meeting (AM)<\/p>\n
GA\/PAL\/1493<\/p>\n
At a special event today marking the seventy-eighth anniversary of the Nakba, the Â鶹APP Palestinian Rights Committee heard testimonies from bereaved families and friends of victims \u2014 those killed during the events of 78\u00a0years ago, as well as in the ongoing conflict \u2014 including the mother of Hind Rajab, a five-year-old girl from Gaza,\u00a0who has become a symbol of innocent lives lost amidst violence and war.<\/p>\n
\u201cNakba<\/a>\u201d \u2014 an Arabic word that means \u201ccatastrophe\u201d \u2014 refers to the displacement and dispossession of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in\u00a01948.\u00a0 Today\u2019s\u00a0meeting<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 hosted by\u00a0the Â鶹APP Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 was mandated by General Assembly resolution\u00a077\/23\u00a0(2022), which requested the UN Secretariat to annually commemorate that historic event.<\/p>\n Much of the discussion drew a parallel between that tragedy and the ongoing violence and displacement in Gaza and the West Bank\u00a0\u2014 Palestine territories occupied by Israel.<\/p>\n In February\u00a02024, Hind and several of her relatives were attempting to flee fighting in the Tel al\u2011Hawa area of Gaza City when their car was struck by gunfire from Israeli forces, killing most of them. \u00a0Hind survived the initial attack, but was left trapped inside the vehicle among their bodies. \u00a0During the incident, her cousin first contacted the Palestine Red Crescent Society for help.<\/p>\n After the cousin was killed, Hind continued speaking to rescuers herself; recordings captured her crying, frightened and pleading for assistance as gunfire continued nearby. \u00a0Paramedics were eventually sent to rescue her, but the ambulance was also attacked and the medics were killed. \u00a0Hind was later found dead in the vehicle 10\u00a0to 12\u00a0days later.<\/p>\n \u201cMy biggest joy was when Hind was born,\u201d said her mother, Wesam Hamada, in a recorded testimony played at the meeting, describing her as a child with \u201ca beautiful spirit\u201d who \u201cloved life and was far beyond her age\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI never truly felt that Hind was only five [\u2026] I felt she was 12 or 13\u201d \u2014 a companion who shared her mother\u2019s daily life and conversations, she added.<\/p>\n Hamada described the pain of losing not only her daughter, but also \u201cmy peace and all the joy\u201d that left with her. \u00a0She recounted the horror of hearing her child plead for help, asking: \u00a0\u201cDo you know what it feels like when your child begs you to save them from an Israeli tank or from the fear of death?\u201d<\/p>\n She stated that Hind \u201cwas executed with 335\u00a0bullets\u201d and emphasized that her tragedy is not isolated, but part of a wider reality faced by \u201ctens of thousands of mothers in Gaza\u201d whose suffering remains unheard.<\/p>\n Her testimony highlighted the conditions endured by children: \u00a0fear, hunger and displacement. \u00a0She asked the audience to imagine \u201cwhat it means for your child to be hungry\u2026 and then fall asleep dreaming about food\u201d or seeking safety \u201cbeneath your dress\u201d during air strikes. \u00a0She situated this within a continuing historical trauma, asserting: \u00a0\u201cOur Nakba is still ongoing.\u201d<\/p>\n In another recorded testimony, members of the family of Aws al\u2011Na\u2019san and his friends shared a personal account of loss and trauma.<\/p>\n Aws was a 14\u2011year\u2011old Palestinian schoolboy from the village of Al\u2011Mughayyir in the occupied West Bank. On 21 April, armed settlers opened fire near his school during an attack on the village. \u00a0He was shot and killed as students attempted to flee and teachers tried to protect them.<\/p>\n One of his sisters described the profound grief the family continues to endure: \u00a0\u201cHe joined God, and joined my dad. \u00a0He left us with immense pain that will never end. \u00a0To have your father killed, and seven years later, have your brother killed. \u00a0When we should have spent our childhood and adolescence together as a family; instead, we spent them experiencing loss and agony.\u201d<\/p>\n She recalled that Aws was like any other child \u2014 only 14\u00a0years old \u2014 who went to school simply to learn, but, instead, \u201ccame back carried as a martyr by his friends\u201d.\u00a0 She said his memory remains ever-present in their lives: \u00a0\u201cI will never forget him. \u00a0He will never leave my mind. \u00a0His voice is still in that house\u2026 he was everything in my life. \u00a0I love him so much.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFor the Palestinian people, the Nakba is not a chapter closed in 1948,\u201d said Coly Seck (Senegal), Palestinian Rights Committee Chair, noting: \u201cIt is not a memory confined to photographs, keys, deeds and stories passed from one generation to the next. \u00a0It is a continuing catastrophe. \u00a0[\u2026] \u00a0It continues in Gaza, where entire neighbourhoods have been reduced to dust.\u201d<\/p>\n A recent assessment estimates direct physical damage at $35.2 billion, with reconstruction and recovery needs exceeding $71 billion. \u00a0Palestinians in Gaza are told there is a ceasefire, yet with children still being killed, families displaced and aid obstructed, he stressed: \u00a0\u201cThis is not a ceasefire \u2014 it is less fire.\u201d<\/p>\n He said the Nakba continues because impunity continues. \u00a0It will end only when unlawful occupation and displacement end and when the Palestinian people are free.\u00a0 \u201cSeventy-eight years is too long,\u201d he said. \u00a0\u201cThe Palestinian people have waited long enough for justice.\u00a0 The world must not ask them to wait any longer.\u201d<\/p>\n Annalena Baerbock (Germany), President of the General Assembly, urged Member States to recommit to the New York Declaration \u2014 the outcome of a high-level international conference on the peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine and the implementation of the two-State solution held in\u00a02025.<\/p>\n She also urged Member States to \u201cnot lose sight of what\u2019s going on right now in Gaza\u201d, where the humanitarian situation remains catastrophic, access limited, and demand high, and where close to 800\u00a0Palestinians, including many children, have been killed since the announcement of the so-called ceasefire in October\u00a02025.<\/p>\n Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary\u2011General for the Middle East, Europe, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific at the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, described the Nakba as \u201cthe world\u2019s longest\u2011standing protracted refugee crisis\u201d \u2014 one that remains painfully unresolved. \u201cRemembering the Nakba imposes responsibilities \u2014 not only of remembrance, but of action,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The path forward, he noted, is well-known and rooted in international law, relevant Â鶹APP resolutions, and the collective commitments of the international community.<\/p>\n These include ending unlawful practices, protecting civilians, supporting Palestinian governance and institution\u2011building, and reviving a credible political process towards a negotiated two\u2011State solution, with Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security. \u00a0If implemented comprehensively, the 20-point United States plan to end the Gaza conflict \u2014 endorsed by UN Security Council resolution\u00a02803\u00a0(2025)<\/a> \u2014 could offer a pathway towards addressing these longstanding issues, he said.<\/p>\n Mahmoud Abbas, President of the State of Palestine \u2014 in remarks delivered by Riyad H. Mansour, Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine \u2014 recalled that around 950,000\u00a0people were \u201cforcibly and coercively expelled\u201d from their homes, transformed into refugees amid efforts to \u201csteal, falsify and erase their history and heritage\u201d.\u00a0 The events are also characterized by widespread violence, including massacres and the destruction of \u201cmore than 531\u00a0towns and villages\u201d that were once vibrant communities.<\/p>\n He underscored the central role of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which has \u201cled the Palestinian struggle in all its forms; popular, political, legal and diplomatic\u201d, helping to preserve national identity and achieve milestones, such as recognition of Palestine as a UN non-member observer State.<\/p>\n He further emphasized recent diplomatic developments, welcoming \u201cPresident Trump\u2019s plan for a ceasefire\u201d and resolution 2803 (2025), alongside the growing international recognition of Palestine \u2014 now by 160 States. \u00a0These developments, he noted, represent meaningful steps towards implementing the two-State solution and realizing \u201can independent and sovereign Palestinian State with East Jerusalem as its capital\u201d.<\/p>\n Looking ahead, he stressed the importance of reconstruction and national unity, reaffirming a vision of \u201cone State, one Government, one law and one weapon\u201d and calling for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. \u00a0He described Gaza as an integral part of Palestine and emphasized the urgent need for rebuilding after \u201cdeath, destruction, displacement and devastation\u201d.<\/p>\n At the same time, he criticized Israel\u2019s non-compliance with international law, noting that the UN has adopted \u201cmore than a thousand resolutions affirming the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people\u201d, including resolutions\u00a0181 and\u00a0194, which he said Israel continues to disregard.<\/p>\n He affirmed that Palestinians \u201chave the right to live in their homeland in freedom and dignity\u201d and called on the international community to uphold these rights. \u00a0He concluded by urging global recognition of the Nakba, warning that \u201cnothing deepens tragedies more than denying them\u201d and framing acknowledgment as essential to achieving justice and lasting peace.<\/p>\n The Committee also paid tribute to Walid Khalidi, a historian of Palestine and the Nakba.<\/p>\n Tarek Mitri, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Institute for Palestine Studies, said that Khalidi \u201cwanted to present the truth in a convincing and coherent manner\u201d, adding that 1948\u00a0was a dramatic year for the Palestinian people, the Middle East and the Arab world.\u00a0 He stressed the importance of establishing exactly what had occurred and identifying those responsible.<\/p>\n The Committee also heard testimonies from Nakba survivors and remarks from Member States.<\/p>\n The Committee was established by the General Assembly in 1975 to promote and advocate for Palestinians\u2019 rights to self-determination, statehood and return under international law.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 15 May 2026 428th Meeting (AM) GA\/PAL\/1493 At a special event today marking the seventy-eighth anniversary of the Nakba, the Â鶹APP Palestinian Rights Committee heard testimonies from bereaved families and friends of victims \u2014 those killed during the events of 78\u00a0years ago, as well as in the ongoing conflict \u2014 including the mother […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":299,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[],"document-category":[6999],"document-source":[1753,2173],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[6985,2265,2033,2005,1741,1745,1821,6771,6251],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6542],"class_list":["post-318308","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","document-category-meeting-coverage","document-source-ceirpp","document-source-division-for-palestinian-rights-dpr","document-subject-accountability","document-subject-ceasefire","document-subject-children","document-subject-gaza-strip","document-subject-human-rights-and-international-humanitarian-law","document-subject-refugees-and-displaced-persons","document-subject-self-determination","document-subject-two-state-solution","document-subject-west-bank","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/318308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/318308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":318319,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/318308\/revisions\/318319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=318308"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=318308"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=318308"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=318308"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=318308"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=318308"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=318308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\u2018Our Nakba Is Still Ongoing\u2019: Grieving Mother of Hind Rajab<\/strong><\/h3>\n
14-Year-Old Aws al-Na\u2019san Carried Home \u2018as a Martyr by His Friends\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n
This Is Less Fire, Not Ceasefire; $71 Billion Needed to Rebuild Gaza<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Recommit to New York Declaration, Don\u2019t Lose Sight of Humanitarian Catastrophe<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Path Forward Rooted in International Law, United States 20-Point Plan<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Importance of National Unity; One State, One Government, One Law, One Weapon\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Tribute to Palestinian Historian Walid Khalidi<\/strong><\/h3>\n