By Nidal al-Mughrabi, Ali Sawafta and Hatem Khaled
CAIRO/WEST BANK/GAZA (Reuters) – Palestinians, locked in war with Israel for more than a year, expressed fear at Donald Trump’s return to the White House, while the leaders of the militant group Hamas and the Palestinian Authority urged him to act for peace.
In Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, Abu Osama, who has been displaced by unrelenting Israeli bombardments, called Trump’s election victory a “new catastrophe in the history of the Palestinian people”.
“Despite the destruction, death, and displacement that we have witnessed, what is coming will be more difficult, it will be politically devastating,” Abu Osama told Reuters.
More than 43,300 Palestinians have been killed in more than a year of war in Gaza, health authorities in the enclave say, and much of the territory has been laid to waste.
The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Efforts by the United States and Arab mediators Qatar and Egypt have so far failed to arrange a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that would end the fighting and see the release of Israeli and foreign hostages in Gaza as well as Palestinians jailed by Israel.
Hamas said the U.S. election was a matter for the American people but it called for an end to the “blind support” for Israel from the United States.
“We urge Trump to learn from Biden’s mistakes,” Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters.
Abu Zuhri said Trump would be tested on his statements that he can stop the war within hours of taking office as U.S. president.
President Joe Biden’s administration has provided Israel with unflinching diplomatic support and military aid even as Secretary of State Antony Blinken worked on ceasefire proposals. Trump’s future policy is not yet clear although he was supportive of Israel in his previous term as president.
ABBAS APPEALS
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a rival of Hamas, congratulated Trump on his election as U.S. president. He said he would cooperate with the new administration to reach regional peace.
“We will remain steadfast in our commitment to peace, and we are confident that the United States will support, under your leadership, the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people,” Abbas said in a statement.
Some Palestinians said they did not see much difference between the former president and the current vice president and defeated candidate Kamala Harris, but Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel during his first term showed he was more biased towards Israel.
“We, as Arabs and Palestinians, will not be naive enough. We have to deal with him as an enemy. We have to determine who is the enemy. They are enemies,” said Khaled Dasouso, owner of a grocery in Khan Younis.
Meanwhile, some held on to some hope.
“I think (Donald) Trump if he wins, what he doing, he promised the Muslim people in America to stop the war in
Gaza. “We hope that happens,” said Gaza engineer, Mohammed Barghouthi
(Reporting by Nidal Al Mughrabi in Cairo, Ali Sawafta in Ramallah and Hatem Khaled in Gaza; Editing by Alison Williams and Angus MacSwan)
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