Gazans heard Trump’s promises. Now they want him to keep them.

Now that Donald Trump has won the US presidential elections, people in Gaza are wondering what awaits them.

Citizens here believe the genocide — and the Biden administration’s continued support for it — is a major reason for Trump’s victory. They are certain that Biden’s unlimited support for Israel has been a disaster for their lives. But what the future holds with Trump in charge is unclear.

That’s why, when I interviewed some people in the aftermath of the election, I found a mixture of hope and fear: the hope that Trump would take steps to end the war on Gaza — as he say He want to– and the fear that he would allow the genocide to continue unchallenged. The one thing they all agree on: They think Trump has made real promises about ending the genocide, and they want him to keep them. This is part of what they told me.

Reem Al-Khour, 40, from Gaza City, now displaced

It is very sad that we are in the second year of the war, the American elections have arrived and the war has not stopped yet. The US government has not yet acknowledged that war crimes have been committed by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, despite the murder of entire families who are no longer registered.

I supported Trump’s victory in the election because he said throughout the war that if he had been president, he would have stopped the war early. Now we wait for him to be honest in his words and force Israel to stop the war. I hope these speeches are not just for election propaganda. We want to stop the war quickly. The days pass quickly and they are all very bad because of the constant bombing, destruction and famine that we are also experiencing.

Trump will not be against Israel. We know America’s strong support for Israel. He is certainly a friend of Netanyahu. During his previous presidential term, he supported Netanyahu’s government, and Netanyahu’s speeches show that after Trump’s victory he pretended to be happy that Trump had won. Trump did things that angered the Palestinian people, such as moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, or his so-called ‘deal of the century’. But the only positive thing is that there was never a war against Gaza during his rule. And this is what we want. We want to stop the war and rebuild Gaza so we can return to our normal lives.

Salem Al-Masry, 35, from the city of Beit Hanoun, now displaced

Trump’s victory in the election could be good. He is a man who cares about the economy and about making deals with Middle Eastern countries, so he wants the Middle East to remain calm. And he said he would restore peace and stop the war. But I don’t trust him; he could support Netanyahu’s plans.

We just want them to stop the war. I want to return to my home with my three children and my wife. I want to meet my father and mother in the north. I haven’t seen them in a year and two months. What happened during a whole year of murder and destruction is enough. We want a strong person who can force Netanyahu to stop the war. We don’t want anyone to join Netanyahu against us and continue the war. There are dangerous plans being carried out by the military on the ground in Gaza, and Biden didn’t care. We see that our territories are occupied by Israel and Biden is just watching us. So we want Trump to stop the war quickly.

Rana Al-Rayes, 22, a history student at Al-Aqsa University of Khan Yunis

I have been following the news closely since the start of the war. I have never seen such a failure as with the Biden administration, which has encouraged Israel to continue the war until now. Biden did not have the opportunity to impose his views on Netanyahu to stop the war, so our suffering has continued for more than a year. I supported Harris a little bit, but she’s from the Biden administration. Even if she wanted to convince Biden of the need to stop the war, she didn’t.

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Trump has previous experiences with the Middle East since he was president – ​​no wars occurred during his presidency. He bragged about this during his election campaign and convinced many Muslims and Palestinian supporters that he would end the war.

There is no American president who does not have strong friendships and absolute support for Israel. But Trump can be honest that wars are not part of his policy. The difficulty is whether this will happen and, if so, when. The people in Gaza are very tired and cannot wait any longer. Gaza has never experienced a war more difficult than this, unfortunately it was the worst, so we do not want to lose hope and we hope that Trump will be honest in his promise to us that the war will end soon.

I miss my life, my university and my normal days. We hope that Trump will not abandon us as Biden did. We experienced difficult moments of death because of Biden’s crazy support for Netanyahu.

Raed Baraka, 50, from the town of Khuza’a, east of Khan Yunis

Unfortunately, there is no honest American president. My house was destroyed by American missiles. Biden participated in the war against Gaza together with Netanyahu and showed no compassion for our children and women. Biden agreed to our displacement and expulsion from our homes and their destruction in this terrifying manner. We want an honest and strong president who can stop the war on Gaza. We want Trump to stop this war. We want him to be honest.

Trump is a controversial president. Sometimes he seems like a crazy person with strange ideas about the Middle East, but what is important for us now is to stop the war on Gaza and give us a state where we can live in safety. We don’t want wars. Since I was born, I have lived through many successive wars. In every war against Gaza, my house has been destroyed and my farmland bulldozed. If Trump supports Netanyahu or Israel, let him do what he wants, but not by robbing us of a life in peace and security. Stop the war against us. This is what we want from you. It is not difficult for you to stop the murder of children and women and the constant bombing of our country. Trump says he is a man of peace. We are a people of peace. We want him to stop the war.

We cannot back down

We are now faced with a second Trump presidency.

There is not a moment to lose. We must harness our fears, our sadness, and yes, our anger, to resist the dangerous policies that Donald Trump will unleash on our country. We rededicate ourselves to our roles as journalists and writers with principles and conscience.

Today we also prepare for the battle ahead. It will require a fearless mind, an informed mind, wise analysis and human resistance. We face the introduction of Project 2025, a far-right Supreme Court, political authoritarianism, rising inequality and unprecedented homelessness, a looming climate crisis and conflict abroad. The nation will uncover investigative reporting and proposals, and work together as a community to keep hope and possibility alive. The nation‘s work will continue – as it has done in good times and bad – to develop alternative ideas and visions, to deepen our mission of truth-telling and in-depth reporting, and to promote solidarity in a divided nation .

Armed with a remarkable 160 years of bold, independent journalism, our mandate today remains the same as it was when the abolitionists first founded The nation– to uphold the principles of democracy and freedom, to serve as a beacon in the darkest days of resistance, and to envision and fight for a better future.

The day is dark, the forces are tenacious, but just as late Nation editorial board member Toni Morrison wrote: “No! This is exactly the moment when artists get to work. There is no time for despair, no room for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”

I urge you to stick with it The nation and donate today.

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Katrina van den Heuvel
Editorial director and publisher, The nation

Ruwaida Kamal Amer

Ruwaida Kamal Amer is a freelance journalist from Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza Strip.

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