Palestinians mark 'Nakba' anniversary as thousands flee Gaza's Rafah

Tens of thousands of civilians fled the southern Gaza city of Rafah ahead of a threatened Israeli ground offensive, as Palestinians on Wednesday mark the anniversary of their “Nakba” or “catastrophe” of 1948.During the war that accompanied Israel’s creation, around 760,000 Palestinians fled or were driven from their homes and many took refuge in what would later become the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.Wednesday’s commemoration of the “Nakba” comes as multiple battles between Israeli troops and Hamas militants across the Gaza Strip force waves of Palestinian mass displacement.Nearly…