‘Israel will keep invading – with more ease’: Gaza fears Trump presidency | Features News

For the past 13 months, Ahmed Jarad has lived with the dim hope that one day he could return to his home in Beit Lahiya, a village in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.

But on Wednesday, as former US President Donald Trump declared his triumphant return to the White House after a close race against Vice President Kamala Harris, Jarad said his dream of returning to his hometown, which is currently being pounded by Israel and its stranded population cut off from the south, has been crushed.

The 43-year-old left his home exactly one year ago – in November 2023 – fleeing to al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis in southern Gaza. A month earlier, Israel launched its war on Gaza after Hamas, the political and military group that rules the strip, led an attack on army outposts and villages in southern Israel, leaving 1,139 people dead and capturing more than 250.

Since then, Israel has subjected Gaza to almost relentless bombardment and ground invasions. More than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed – with thousands more missing and presumed dead under the rubble – while almost all of the enclave’s 2.3 million inhabitants have been displaced.

Israeli officials maintain that the war is necessary to eliminate Hamas, which has been categorized as a “terrorist group” by most Western countries. But Palestinians, the UN and human rights defenders point out that most of the victims of the war are women and children.

Jarad said he is certain Israel’s brutality will only worsen once Trump, who had a close relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his first presidency, is re-sworn in as the leader of the world’s most powerful superpower.

“Trump and Netanyahu are an evil alliance against the Palestinians and our fate will be very difficult, not only in the fateful issues but also in our daily concerns,” Jarad told Al Jazeera from his tattered tent in al-Mawasi, where he now live. with his wife and their five children.

Netanyahu, who is under pressure both domestically and internationally to end the war that has spilled over into Lebanon and threatens to escalate into a full-scale conflict between Israel and Iran, was quick to congratulate Trump after he claimed his victory on Wednesday.

Netanyahu called Trump’s election “the greatest comeback in history” and described Trump’s return as a “new start for America” ​​and a “strong commitment to the great alliance between Israel and America”.

During Trump’s first four-year term as president from 2016 to 2020, the US embassy in Israel was moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem – a significant step in the eyes of the Israeli government. Aid to Palestinians was cut – especially to UNRWA, the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency, which Israel designated as a terrorist group just days before the US election.

Trump’s administration also oversaw the building of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank despite international condemnation, and brokered the “Abraham Accords,” which saw several Arab countries normalize ties with Israel.

Since the war on Gaza began last October, Democratic President Joe Biden has been unwavering in his support for Israel, continuing to send military aid and affirming Israel’s “right to protect itself.”

But the relationship between Netanyahu and Biden has slightly soured due to worsening regional tensions and the failure to reach any of the cease-fire agreements that the Americans have been involved in negotiating. Netanyahu now says that a Trump presidency could signal a new leaf in Israeli-American relations.

Like many Palestinians, especially those trapped in Gaza, Jarad says he fears this will come at their expense.

“This is a sad day for the Palestinians,” he said in despair. “Trump will support Netanyahu’s free hand regarding the possibility of returning settlements to the Gaza Strip and even expelling large numbers of Palestinians outside of it.”

“We were hoping to return to the north and now all our hopes have been dashed,” he said.

Trump and Netanyahu: ‘Peas in a pod’

Zakia Hilal, a 70-year-old doctor, has resorted to humor to get through the devastation of the war on Gaza. She listened to the radio for news of the US election with her husband, children and grandchildren – all gathered in their tent in al-Mawasi.

As soon as they heard the news that Trump had won, she shouted, “Two peas in a pod,” referring to Netanyahu and Trump. “Our situation was not bad enough? Trump had to come to complete it,” she said sarcastically.

Hilal, who is originally from Rafah in southern Gaza, was forced to leave his home in May when Israeli troops launched a ground operation on May 6 into the southernmost part of the enclave, where the majority of the population had sought shelter.

Since then, the Rafah border crossing into Egypt, the main gateway through which humanitarian aid normally flows, has been closed. Humanitarian aid to the besieged enclave through other minor crossings has fallen to its lowest level since the start of the war.

“We are definitely entering a very difficult period. What comes ahead may be even worse than what we have experienced so far,” Hilal told Al Jazeera. “It is true that American administrations do not differ in their support for Israel, but some are more serious and more intense than others, like Trump.”

In his victory speech in Florida, Trump said he “will stop wars,” something many Arab Americans criticized the Biden administration for failing to do. According to reports from The Times of Israel, Trump has expressed concern about the potential for a protracted conflict in Gaza. In July, he reportedly told Netanyahu in a meeting that the dispute should ideally be resolved by the time he takes office in January 2025.

“I told Bibi (Netanyahu) that we don’t want endless wars, especially ones that drag America into them,” Trump said, referring to the private conversation. How he plans to “finish” this one is unclear and fills Palestinians who spoke to Al Jazeera on Wednesday with fear.

Jehad Malaka, an international relations researcher at the Gaza-based research organization the Palestine Planning Center, doesn’t expect Trump’s incoming administration to be much different from Biden’s in terms of support for Israel.

Speaking to Al Jazeera from the tent he shares with his family in al-Mawasi, where they fled northern Gaza, Malaka said the Biden administration did nothing for the Palestinians during the war, nor did it change any of the the decisions made during Trump’s first presidency.

“Trump is using hard tools and Biden and the Democrats are using soft tools, but the policy is the same,” he said.

He added: “Biden made no decision in favor of the Palestinians and was unable to achieve a ceasefire. He did not change the reality of his predecessor Trump’s decisions at all. The positions of the two administrations on Israel are the same and identical, and they put its interests above all other considerations.”

However, Malaka said he does not believe Trump will support the forcible removal of Gaza Palestinians from the entire enclave and hopes the new president might be able to bring a quicker, albeit extremely painful, end to the war.

“Given Trump’s power to pressure and influence Netanyahu, he may be able to open a horizon for a partial solution to the Palestinian issue, and he is able to pressure Netanyahu, while Biden failed to push for a single day of peace,” he said.

Ahmed Fayyad, 45, an independent researcher on Israeli affairs who has taken refuge in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, is less optimistic. He said he believes Trump’s influence will be completely harmful to Palestinians as a whole, and Gaza Palestinians in particular.

“Trump’s election only means that Netanyahu will continue his plans to invade Gaza and expel its people, but with less pressure and more ease,” Fayyed, who fled to Deir el-Balah to escape intense bombing in eastern Khan Younis for almost a year ago. said.

Trump is “a more dominant figure” whose “influence on all parties would mean that Netanyahu will get away with doing what he wanted all along, which is to capture Gaza”, he said.

“Amid the weakened Palestinian front and the absence of Arab unity and solidarity, the entire Palestinian cause faces its worst threat yet.”

This piece is published in collaboration with Egab.