JABALIA, Gaza — Inside the hollowed-out shell of his home in the Jabalia refugee camp, Abdel Mahdi al-Wuheidi, 85, stirs a small fire to brew coffee. The walls around him are cracked, the roof partially collapsed, and the belongings he once treasured lie buried under rubble. Next to him sits his wife, Aziza, also in her 80s, whom he married 60 years ago. The couple never had children, but they raised five nephews after their father died when they were young. Today, those nephews and their families share the damaged space with them.

Al-Wuheidi was just eight years old when the 1948 Nakba forced more than 750,000 Palestinians from their homes at Israel’s founding. He vividly recalls fleeing his family’s farm in Bir al-Saba, now known as Beersheba, as Israeli forces advanced. The family settled in the Gaza Strip, where they became refugees in the newly established Jabalia camp. Over the decades, he worked as a farmer and later as a laborer, but his connection to his lost homeland never faded.

War revisits trauma of displacement

The 2023 Israeli offensive in Gaza brought back memories he thought he would never relive. Al-Wuheidi watched as airstrikes reduced much of Jabalia to ruins, including parts of the camp where he had lived for nearly 75 years. “What we are enduring now is worse than 1948,” he says. “Israel’s war has taken everything—our homes, our dignity, everything we had left.”

His story mirrors that of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza who have faced multiple displacements in their lifetimes. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) estimates that 1.7 million Gazans are internally displaced, many having fled multiple times since October 2023. Al-Wuheidi’s camp, one of the oldest in the territory, has been hit repeatedly, forcing families to move between shelters and half-destroyed buildings.

Generations of loss, unbroken bond to land

Al-Wuheidi’s life reflects the broader reality of Palestinian dispossession. He was born in 1940, two years before the Nakba, which Palestinians commemorate annually as the “catastrophe.” His father, a farmer, owned land in Bir al-Saba, but after 1948, the family lost access to it permanently. Israel’s subsequent wars and blockades have only deepened the crisis for Palestinians in Gaza.

Despite the destruction, al-Wuheidi insists he will return to Bir al-Saba if given the chance. “I was born there, and I will die remembering it,” he says. His attachment to the land is not just personal—it is a defining feature of Palestinian identity, passed down through generations who have never seen their ancestral homes.

Surviving in the ruins of war

Today, al-Wuheidi and his wife survive on food parcels from aid groups and occasional work his nephews find. The electricity in the camp flickers on and off, and clean water is scarce. Medical care is limited, and the remnants of their home offer little shelter from the summer heat or winter rains. Yet, he refuses to leave. “Where would we go?” he asks. “This is our land. We have nowhere else.”

The Israeli military has not commented on al-Wuheidi’s specific case, but its operations in Gaza have drawn international condemnation for their toll on civilians. Human rights groups say the repeated displacement of Palestinians violates international law, yet the cycle continues.

What comes next for Gaza’s displaced

For now, al-Wuheidi’s focus is on survival. Aid agencies warn that Gaza’s displaced face a worsening humanitarian crisis, with food, medicine, and shelter in short supply. The future remains uncertain, but for al-Wuheidi, the past is a constant reminder of what has been lost—and what might never be reclaimed.

What You Need to Know

  • Source: Al Jazeera
  • Published: May 16, 2026 at 09:05 UTC
  • Category: World
  • Topics: #aljazeera · #world-news · #middle-east · #war · #gaza · #from

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Curated by GlobalBR News · May 16, 2026

🇧🇷 Resumo em Português

O octogenário palestino Abdel Mahdi al-Wuheidi, que sobreviveu à Nakba de 1948 e agora enfrenta a guerra em Gaza, carrega nas memórias a dor de 75 anos de deslocamento forçado. Seu testemunho, parte de uma reportagem recente, encapsula não apenas a tragédia individual, mas uma saga coletiva que ecoa por gerações no território palestino.

A Nakba — termo árabe para “catástrofe”, que se refere à expulsão de cerca de 700 mil palestinos durante a criação de Israel em 1948 — continua a ser um marco histórico doloroso e politicamente explosivo. Para o Brasil, onde a causa palestina tem forte presença na diplomacia e entre setores da sociedade, essa narrativa reforça a urgência de soluções justas no Oriente Médio. Além disso, em um momento em que conflitos no mundo árabe ganham atenção global, o relato de al-Wuheidi serve como lembrete da humanidade por trás das estatísticas de guerra, especialmente para uma população brasileira com origens árabes significativa.

O caso de al-Wuheidi reabre debates sobre justiça histórica e direitos dos refugiados, enquanto Israel mantém sua campanha militar em Gaza, deixando o futuro dos palestinos cada vez mais incerto.

🇪🇸 Resumen en Español

Abdel Mahdi al-Wuheidi, un palestino de 85 años, encarna en su memoria la tragedia de la Nakba de 1948 y el sufrimiento prolongado de su pueblo durante los 75 años transcurridos hasta la reciente guerra en Gaza. Su relato no solo es el testimonio de una vida marcada por el exilio forzoso, sino también un espejo de la resistencia y la resiliencia de una comunidad que ha visto cómo su tierra y su identidad han sido sistemáticamente borradas por la historia.

La historia de al-Wuheidi, superviviente de dos éxodos separados por casi ocho décadas, subraya la urgencia de un conflicto que trasciende generaciones. Para los hispanohablantes, su testimonio evoca paralelos con otras diásporas históricas, recordando cómo el desarraigo y la ocupación han moldeado —y fracturado— identidades nacionales. La Nakba, lejos de ser un episodio del pasado, sigue siendo una herida abierta en Oriente Medio, donde el derecho al retorno y la justicia para los desplazados palestinos siguen siendo temas de profunda controversia y debate global.