The about 711,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from the areas that became Israel were not allowed to return to their homes, and took up residence in refugee camps in surrounding countries, including Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and the area that was later to be known as the Gaza Strip; they were usually not allowed to leave refugee camps and mix with the local Arab society either, leaving the Palestinian refugee problem unsolved even today. Around 400 Arab towns and villages were depopulated during the 1948 Palestinian exodus. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East was established to alleviate their condition.[4]