Palestinians on Wednesday will mark the 76th year of their mass expulsion from what is now Israel. It's an event that is at the core of their national struggle, but in many ways pales in comparison to the calamity now unfolding in Gaza. Palestinians refer to it as the Nakba, Arabic for catastrophe. Some 700,000 Palestinians — a majority of the prewar population — fled or were driven from their homes before and during the 1948 war that followed Israel’s establishment. After the war, Israel refused to allow them to return. In Gaza, the refugees and their descendants make up around three-fourths of the population. Many have once again been displaced, with no idea if or when they will return.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Kyiv on an unannounced diplomatic mission to reassure Ukraine that it has American support as it struggles to defend against increasingly intense Russian attacks. The two-day visit starting Tuesday comes less than a month after Congress approved a long-delayed foreign assistance package that sets aside $60 billion in aid for Ukraine, much of which will go toward replenishing badly depleted artillery and air defense systems. It's Blinken's fourth trip to Kyiv since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. U.S. officials say Blinken will underscore the Biden administration’s commitment to Ukraine’s defense and long-term security.

Aid workers are struggling to distribute dwindling food to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by what Israel says is a limited operation in Rafah. The two main crossings near the southern Gaza city have been closed for over a week. The U.N. says 360,000 Palestinians have fled Rafah over the past week, out of 1.3 million who were sheltering there before the operation began. Most had already fled fighting elsewhere. Israel has portrayed Rafah as the last stronghold of the militant group, even as Hamas regroups in some of the most devastated parts of Gaza that Israel had claimed to have cleared.