London – 20 June 2025

On the occasion of World Refugee Day, the Palestinian Return Centre reminds the international community that the plight of the Palestinian people is not a temporary humanitarian crisis, but rather an ongoing and systematic crime of forced displacement and denial of the right of return, which began with the Nakba in 1948 and continues to escalate to this day.

While this day is intended to reinforce the protection of refugees’ rights and the enforcement of international legal obligations towards them, the occupied Palestinian territories are witnessing unprecedented escalation in Israel’s policies of displacement. The occupying authorities continue to create new waves of Palestinian refugees, particularly in the Gaza Strip, through siege, starvation, indiscriminate bombardment, and the wholesale destruction of civilian infrastructure, in blatant violation of international humanitarian law, the Fourth Geneva Convention, and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Israel’s repeated attempts to generate new waves of displacement neither nullify nor diminish the inalienable right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes. On the contrary, they reaffirm the centrality of this right as a binding legal obligation firmly embedded in international law, particularly under UN General Assembly Resolution 194, and as an integral part of transitional justice and the right of peoples to self-determination.

The Palestinian Return Centre stresses that Israel’s continued impunity for its policies of forced displacement paves the way for further violations and perpetuates the Nakba in various forms. The Centre therefore calls on the international community and United Nations bodies to move beyond rhetorical condemnations and activate binding international legal mechanisms to hold Israel accountable, impose urgent measures to halt its ongoing displacement policies, and ensure the implementation of the right of return as an essential pillar of any just resolution based on international law and UN resolutions.

The Palestinian Return Centre salutes the steadfastness of Palestinian refugees across all host countries despite decades of hardship and deprivation, and affirms that resolving the Palestinian refugee issue cannot be achieved through resettlement or circumvention of their rights, but through ending the occupation and realizing their legitimate right of return in accordance with international law.

In light of the ongoing attempts to forcibly displace Palestinians from Gaza, the Palestinian Return Centre reaffirms that the Palestinian people in Gaza, as elsewhere, categorically reject any solutions based on their forced relocation to other countries under any humanitarian or political pretext. They insist on their legitimate right to live in safety and dignity in their own land and homeland. Current developments have clearly demonstrated that all attempts to impose resettlement or external displacement scenarios are in direct contradiction with the collective will of the Palestinians, who remain resolute that return to their original homes and ending the occupation remain the only path to achieving lasting justice and resolving the refugee question in accordance with international law and relevant UN resolutions.