The journey from East Jerusalem to Amman seemed straightforward at first: a quick drive to the Dead Sea, a border crossing, and then straight to Jordan's capital.

Yet in the early summer of 2024, that route posed a formidable challenge for UNRWA humanitarian workers - the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees - as they worked to protect vast collections of archival materials central to modern Palestinian history.

A 10-month campaign to preserve UNRWA's archives from Gaza and East Jerusalem was entering its concluding phase. The mission was secretive, often perilous, involving numerous staff across at least four nations, daring retrievals amid shelling, discreet transport of unmarked packages through Egypt, and secure airlifts via military aircraft.

Time was critically short. UNRWA's extensive facility in East Jerusalem faced aggressive Israeli attempts to oust the agency, drawing attacks from right-wing factions.

The archives' value was undeniable, with many records capturing Palestinians' displacements during the 1948 conflicts that birthed Israel.

"Losing them would have been devastating. For any fair resolution to this conflict, these are the sole proofs of Palestinian presence in specific areas," stated Roger Hearn, a top UNRWA official who led the initiative.

UNRWA, established in 1949 to deliver health services, food, and schooling to roughly 750,000 Palestinian refugees, was not designed for such covert preservation tasks.

When the Gaza war erupted after Hamas's October 2023 assault on Israel - killing 1,200, mainly civilians - UNRWA's records were dispersed across its Middle East operations. In Gaza City's UNRWA site, dusty containers held 1948 refugee registration cards, plus generations of birth, marriage, and death records, enabling displaced families to trace roots in present-day Israel.

Though digitization efforts preceded this, hundreds of thousands of paper documents persisted in 2023, susceptible to disasters or intentional harm.

Jean-Pierre Filiu, a Middle East Studies professor at Sciences Po in Paris who entered Gaza during hostilities, called the records "essential to Palestinian identity."

"They document 1948 expulsions - origins, properties lost, destructions. Over 200,000 arrived in Gaza from across Palestine between 1948 and 1949," Filiu explained.

Israel has long opposed UNRWA, arguing it perpetuates return claims by extending refugee status to descendants, and criticizing school materials for anti-Israel, antisemitic content.

Post-2023 Hamas attack, Israel claimed UNRWA Gaza staff participated; the agency dismissed nine after probing.

The rescue's initial phase was intense and hazardous.

Soon after invading Gaza, Israel mandated evacuation of UNRWA's Gaza City offices. Foreign staff departed hastily, leaving archives behind.

"Israelis might seize and destroy them, or they'd perish in blasts or fires," noted Sam Rose, UNRWA's acting Gaza director.

Earlier, a hack forced a digital system pause, heightening fears of cyber wipes for scanned files.

"We faced daily cyber barrages, fearing total loss of originals and copies," Hearn recalled.

Amid relentless Israeli strikes killing over 70,000 - mostly civilians - UNRWA teams in rented trucks made three runs from Gaza City to a Rafah warehouse near Egypt.

Egypt barred exit without Israeli approval. UNRWA anticipated seizure, recalling Israel's 1982 seizure of PLO archives in Beirut.

International-passport holders smuggled them out covertly.

"Border stops? They claimed routine papers. Volumes were huge; all carried loads," Rose said.

Over six months, Egypt sorted them, then a Jordanian group flew them to Amman on aid-returning military flights. The last shipment preceded Israel's May 2024 Rafah seizure by two weeks.

East Jerusalem's archives remained at risk.

Early in the war, Israel escalated claims of UNRWA-Hamas ties, harassing the agency. By 2024, protests and arsons ravaged the site; expulsion pushes accelerated.

"East Jerusalem warnings of lost access lasted months," Rose said.

Diplomatic storage bids failed, so staff secretly relocated them over months to Jordan. January 2025 laws banned UNRWA from Israel and occupied areas.

In Amman, Luxembourg-funded digitization began: 50+ staff in a tight basement hand-scanned postcard registrations and millions more.

"Safely out of Palestine now," Filiu affirmed.

Nearly 30 million digitized, UNRWA plans family trees, displacement maps for all refugees, clarifying 1948's 750,000 displacements. Completion may take two years.

Dr. Anne Irfan, University College London Middle East historian and Gaza Strip history author, hailed them as key to Palestinian narrative.

"Stateless Palestinians lack a central archive; UNRWA's holds unique weight," Irfan said.

Digitized, they illuminate refugee lives, UN roles, global responses, and 80 years of regional politics, Irfan told the Guardian.

"Contested past with profound current stakes."