NEW YORK, May 19, 2026 (WAFA) – The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) revealed details of an operation it conducted over nearly 10 months to rescue millions of archival documents that chronicle the history of Palestinian refugees since the Nakba in 1948.

According to the UN agency’s official website, UNRWA Media Advisor Adnan Abu Hasna said that the archive documents “the daily lives of Palestinian refugees and their personal and social affairs, from marriages, births, and deaths to registration processes and camp construction,” noting that these documents represent “the collective memory of millions of Palestinian refugees.”

In press statements on Tuesday, he explained that the archive contains “tens of millions of documents” that document the lives of Palestinian refugees in UNRWA’s five areas of operation: Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem.

He explained that preserving this archive is "a crucial part of UNRWA's mandate," emphasizing that the agency's role extends beyond providing education, health, and relief, encompassing "preserving the identity of Palestinians and the global historical heritage of the Palestinian cause."

Abu Hasna noted that the archive has been fully digitized, while the original documents have been retained due to their importance. He explained that "destroying this archive would be a catastrophe in every sense of the word."

According to a report in the British newspaper The Guardian, ten UNRWA staff members from at least four countries participated in the operation. This involved transporting documents from areas under bombardment in the Gaza Strip to Egypt, and then shipping the archive boxes via Jordanian aircraft to the Kingdom, fearing their confiscation or destruction by the Israeli occupation authorities.

K.T