Gazans fear further death as Donald Trump threatens Hamas again

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip expressed much fear of further bloody violence and more death by Israel as US President-elect Donald Trump renewed his threats to open up the “gates of hell” in the Middle East if Hamas does not immediately release all Israeli captives by the time he enters the White House on 20 January.

As Israel’s war enters its 15th month, the Israeli army continues to bombardment various areas in the Gaza Strip, while mediators persist in attempts to reach a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement.

Speaking to The New Arab, Mahmoud Basal, the spokesperson of the civil defence in Gaza, noted that the Israeli army killed at least 38 Palestinians, including 13 children, over the past 12 hours alone. 

The new deaths raise the number of Palestinians killed to at least 45,936 and wounded to 109,274, since the Israeli army began its war on Gaza on 7 October 2023, according to the Gaza-based Palestinian health ministry.

‘Gates of hell’

In conjunction with the intensive and indirect talks currently being held in the Qatari capital, Doha, to try to overcome obstacles and reach an agreement to exchange prisoners and reach a ceasefire agreement between the two conflicting parties, US President-elect Trump reiterated that the “gates of hell” will open on the Middle East if the Israeli captives are not released before his inauguration on 20 January.

Trump said in a press conference held on Tuesday in Florida that if the Israelis held in Gaza are not returned by the time he assumes the presidency, “the gates of hell will open wide in the Middle East, and it will not be good for Hamas or for anyone, frankly.”

For their part, Hamas rejected Trump’s threats. Osama Hamdan, a Hamas leader, said during a press conference in Algeria, “Trump must be more disciplined and diplomatic and work to stop the war instead of issuing threats.”

Hamdan reiterated Hamas’s position regarding the negotiations, saying, it was “represented by a ceasefire, the withdrawal of the Israeli army from Gaza, the exchange of prisoners, and the reconstruction of Gaza without Israeli conditions.”

Mass fears

From the front of his tent in the coastal area of Mawasi in Khan Younis, Mohammed Ali anxiously follows the news on his mobile phone. “I don’t know what is left in Gaza to burn in Trump’s hell. We hoped that his statements would be more balanced and push towards a ceasefire, not to pour oil on the fire,” the 33-year-old father of two told The New Arab. 

Palestinians in the coastal enclave are living in extremely difficult conditions due to the ongoing killing, displacement, and Israel’s use of a starvation policy. 

Khader Hamed, a displaced man in the city of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, described Trump’s statements as “worrying.”

“All the residents of the Gaza Strip are waiting for this round of negotiations and hoping that it would result in a ceasefire agreement to stop the bloodshed, but Trump’s statements do not bode well,” he said.

He added, as he walked around one of the city’s markets, which is witnessing a sharp rise in prices due to the ongoing Israeli blockade and the restriction of humanitarian aid, “We hope that the negotiators will be able to reach a formula that will end our suffering and spare us the continuation of the hell that President Trump threatened us with and that we have been living in for 15 months.”

Umm Ismail, a displaced Palestinian woman in the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, expressed her fears that Trump will encourage Israel to expand the brunt of its war to the central region, which would mean that the Israeli army may kill an additional 50,000 Palestinians to what they have already killed.

“No one supported us, and no one was able to stop the murderous Israeli monster, so who will protect us now? If they want to kill us, let them do it now and not delay because we die a thousand times every day,” she remarked