Many Gazans Want to Leave

The Middle East Monitor reported on Thursday that many of the tents and shelters used by Gazan civilians were flooded in recent heavy rain and cold weather. According to Civil Defence Agency spokesman Mahmoud Basal:

"The situation in Gaza is catastrophic as rains continue to pour over the heads of displaced Palestinians
whose homes were destroyed. Many tents were submerged as shelter centres lack
even the most basic means of resilience against extreme weather conditions."

It is dangerous for Gazans to speak openly of wanting to leave, because Hamas punishes such talk severely. However, projects like ‘Whispered in Gaza’ and ‘Voices from Gaza’ enable ordinary Gazan people to speak up without exposing them to danger.

The Centre for Peace Communications recently posted a video on X of Gazans speaking openly about Donald Trump’s statements and the future of Gaza. One of them said,

"I want to leave because there’s no life left here. Life here has gone.
I mean just look around you. We simply can’t live here.
I’m asking Trump himself to relocate us as he suggested, and I’ll be the first to go."

And on Wednesday, the Emirati envoy to the United States said that, while the United Arab Emirates regards Donald Trump’s plan as "difficult," his country has yet to see "an alternative to what’s being proposed." He went on to say Abu Dhabi is "going to try" to find common ground with the US President.

The pressure to keep the civilians in the area comes largely from those who oppose the existence of the State of Israel and claim that the whole area belongs to the Palestinians.

However, that claim ignores the historical fact that before 1948, most of the people who called themselves Palestinians were the Jews who lived there. The modern claim of Palestinian identity did not arise until 1964, when the Palestine Liberation Organisation was created.

In an interview on Talk TV last week, Jake Wallis Simons described a conversation he had with one of his friends in the Gaza Strip.

"He said that he and everybody he knows are fully behind Trump’s proposals
because they don’t want to live in rubble for the 20 years it will take to rebuild their houses.
They don’t want to live in tents. They don’t want to see their children having to live on aid handouts."