Only Hamas will undermine Trump’s plan to expel Gaza’s residents

During his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump expressed his intention to expel the residents of the occupied Gaza Strip, which has been subjected to an unprecedented livestreamed genocide committed by the brutal Israeli occupation forces using, mainly, American arms and money.

“The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too. We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site,” Trump told reporters. He also said that the Americans would “level the site, and get rid of the destroyed buildings, level it out, create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area, do a real job, do something different.”

As he was standing alongside Netanyahu, Trump looked serious. “You build really good quality housing, like a beautiful town, like some place where they can live and not die, because Gaza is a guarantee that they’re going to end up dying.”

“Why would they want to return? The place has been hell,” he continued, showcasing the core of his delusional plan. This even embarrassed reporters, with one saying: “But it’s their home, Sir. Why would they leave?”

If the US wanted to rebuild Gaza, create an unlimited number of jobs and turn it into a beautiful area, why did they send money, arms and troops to destroy it and kill its people?

Trump is trying to do the job himself, after the Israeli occupation failed to expel the Palestinian from Gaza during the 15-month genocide.

“The bonds of friendship and affection between the American and Israeli people have endured for generations, and they are absolutely unbreakable,” Trump said, highlighting that he cares little about the global outrage caused by Israel’s total destruction of Gaza.

The strange plan also drew global criticism as world leaders reiterated that ethnically cleansing a population is a stark violation of international laws and conventions. But these laws and conventions mean very little to Palestinians who are facing a fierce and immoral occupation which has global backing in spite of its illegal conduct.

READ Israel moves to implement ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza 

For 15 months, the world could not stop Israel’s genocide in Gaza or even send food, water and medical aid to Palestinians children, women and men who were struggling to survive. Most of the global super powers even backed the genocide, justified or whitewashed it. Therefore, the burden of facing Trump’s plan lies on the shoulders of the Palestinians themselves.

Can they do it? Yes, they can!

How can they face a superpower when they have no resources or allies? The Palestinians today are not the Palestinians of 1948, 1967 or 1993. In 1948, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled their homes to escape the internationally-backed Zionist war crimes, ending up in refugee camps inside and outside Palestine and paving the way for the creation of the state of Israel on most of the area of historic Palestine.

In 1967, Israel occupied the remaining land of historic Palestine along with large areas of Syria and Egypt. Both countries have signed American-brokered agreements that settled their differences with Israel at the expense of their honour and dignity.

After the surrender of the Arabs to Israel, the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) agreed to go after the mirage of peace with the Israeli occupation state and reached an agreement in 1993 that included the PLO’s concession of Palestinian lands occupied in 1948 and stipulated ending the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land occupied in 1967.

Since then, the occupation has expanded and the creation of a Palestinian state has become even less likely. Instead of complying with Israeli pledges which were included in the peace agreement, Israeli leaders have been getting clearer in their promises to get rid of the Palestinians and occupy all of their historic land.

READ: Massive destruction in water, sewage sector in northern Gaza

This has been very clear during the Gaza genocide. From day one, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant described Palestinians as “human animals” and ordered the army to cut all water, electricity and fuel supplies to them. His army then went on to kill women, children, doctors and patients. They also destroyed hospitals, schools, universities, electricity grids, water pipes, sewage installations and communication hubs in an attempt to force the residents of Gaza out to Egypt, but they failed.

Israel’s Defence Minister Yaov Gallant: ‘We are fighting human animals’

Yaov Gallant has ordered the complete closure of the Gaza Strip, including a ban on the entry of food, water, fuel or access to electricity. pic.twitter.com/4v3GN4RYfJ

— Middle East Monitor (@MiddleEastMnt) October 9, 2023

During the past 15 months, the Israeli occupation, backed by most world leaders, committed all kinds of crimes with complete impunity. Meanwhile, Palestinians were alone, using only primitive homemade weapons to fight back and inflict losses on the “invincible army”. This pushed leaders of the occupation state to insist on ending the war in a way that pleases the Palestinian resistance, making “hard concessions” for Israel.

Israeli hardliners refused this, but at the end, they kneeled down and accepted the Palestinian conditions for the ceasefire. Most people think that Trump put pressure on Netanyahu to accept a ceasefire, but I insist that the Israeli occupation agreed to the ceasefire due to the occupation army’s failure to achieve the declared ‘war goals’ after more than 15 months of committing war crimes and carrying out a livestream genocide.

Palestinians have never seen resistance like what happened in Gaza. A young fighter in plain clothes and basic weapons, without protective military gear, attacking the most fortified and developed tank, shooting and destroying it. American, British and Israeli high-tech spy drones in addition to F16 and F35 jets could not detect them or undermine their defensive attacks that led to the defeat of the best equipped army in the region, backed by the most well-equipped and trained armies in the world.

Following Trump’s remarks about his plan to expel Gaza’s residents, Hamas said: “We will never allow Trump’s plan to go ahead.” When Hamas, the Palestinian resistance movement which enjoys the overwhelming support of the Palestinians, makes such a remark, it means that it is able to back it up. This is why Trump’s Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, posted on X saying: “Gaza MUST BE FREE from Hamas.”

Gaza MUST BE FREE from Hamas. As @POTUS shared today, the United States stands ready to lead and Make Gaza Beautiful Again. Our pursuit is one of lasting peace in the region for all people.

— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) February 5, 2025

They know the truth and the Palestinians also know it. The Palestinians no longer trust Arab and world leaders. They no longer believe that Hamas is a terrorist organisation that is causing the destruction of their hopes and dreams. They believe now that supporting it is the only way to undermine Trump and Israel’s expulsion plans, achieve their hopes and aspirations, the liberation of their land and the creation of their state.

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The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.