[🇧🇩] Israel and Hamas war in Gaza-----Can Bangladesh be a peace broker?

[Saif]

Hamas to free three Israeli hostages in next ceasefire swap

Hamas and Israel will carry out their fourth hostage-prisoner swap of the Gaza ceasefire on Saturday, with the militant group to free three Israeli captives in exchange for 90 inmates in Israeli jails.

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Hamas to free three Israeli hostages in next ceasefire swap
Agence France-Presse . Jerusalem 01 February, 2025, 01:25

Hamas and Israel will carry out their fourth hostage-prisoner swap of the Gaza ceasefire on Saturday, with the militant group to free three Israeli captives in exchange for 90 inmates in Israeli jails.

Militants in Gaza began releasing hostages after the first 42-day phase of the ceasefire with Israel took effect on January 19. The hostages have been in captivity for nearly 15 months.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants have so far handed over 15 hostages to the International Committee of the Red Cross in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

Israeli campaign group, the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, named the captives to be released on Saturday as Yarden Bibas, Keith Seigel, who also has US citizenship, and Ofer Kalderon, who also holds French nationality.

The office of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed it had received the names of the three captives to be released.

In exchange, Israel will free 90 prisoners, nine of whom are serving life sentences, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club advocacy group said.

During their October 7, 2023 attack on Israel which started the Gaza war, militants abducted Siegel from kibbutz Kfar Aza, and Kalderon and Bibas from kibbutz Nir Oz.

Militants took a total of 251 people hostage that day. Of those, 79 still remain in Gaza, including at least 34 the military says are dead.

Those seized include the wife and two children of Bibas, whom Hamas has already declared dead, although Israeli officials have yet to confirm that.

The two Bibas boys — Kfir, the youngest hostage, who turned two in captivity earlier this month, and his four-year-old brother Ariel — have become symbols of the suffering of the hostages held in Gaza.

The children were taken along with their mother, Shiri.

Hamas says the boys and their mother were killed in an Israeli air strike in November 2023.

The arrangements for hostage handovers in Gaza have sometimes been chaotic, particularly for the most recent handover in the southern city of Khan Yunis, which produced scenes that the Israeli prime minister condemned as ‘shocking’.

Woman hostage Arbel Yehud was visibly distressed as masked gunman struggled to clear a path for her through crowds of spectators desperate to witness her handover, television images showed.

Israel briefly delayed Thursday’s prisoner release in protest and the ICRC urged all parties to improve security.

‘The security of these operations must be assured, and we urge for improvements in the future,’ ICRC president Mirjana Spoljaric said.

Later on Thursday, Israeli authorities released 110 imates from Ofer prison, including high-profile former militant commander Zakaria Zubeidi, 49, who was given a hero’s welcome in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Also freed was Hussein Nasser, who received little attention from the crowd but was at the centre of his daughters’ world.

‘Where’s Dad?’ Raghda Nasser asked tearfully as she moved through the crowd, an AFP correspondent reported.

Raghda, 21, hugged her father in the flesh for the first time Thursday night. Her mother was pregnant with her when he was jailed 22 years ago.

‘I just visited him behind the glass in Israeli prisons. I cannot express my feelings,’ Raghda said.

The fragile ceasefire hinges on the release of a total of 33 hostages in exchange for around 1,900 people — mostly Palestinians — in Israeli jails.

The truce deal has allowed a surge of aid into Gaza, where the war has created a long-running humanitarian crisis.

Negotiations for a second phase of the deal are set to start on Monday, according to a timeline provided by an Israeli official. This phase would cover the release of the remaining captives.

During the current phase, more than 4,62,000 war-displaced Palestinians have returned to the north of Gaza since Israel restored access on Monday, according to UN figures. Many have gone back to homes that have been completely destroyed.​

 

[Saif]

Hamas-Israel complete fourth hostage-prisoner swap

Freed Palestinian inmates were greeted by a cheering crowd in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on Saturday, after Hamas released three Israeli hostages from the Gaza Strip in the fourth exchange under the group’s ceasefire deal with Israel...

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Hamas-Israel complete fourth hostage-prisoner swap
Agence France-Presse . Gaza City 01 February, 2025, 23:54

Freed Palestinian inmates were greeted by a cheering crowd in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on Saturday, after Hamas released three Israeli hostages from the Gaza Strip in the fourth exchange under the group’s ceasefire deal with Israel.

Three other buses carrying freed Palestinians also arrived in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis, with the inmates in grey prison uniforms met by hundreds of well-wishers.

In Ramallah, the bus carrying the inmates struggled to make its way through the jubilant throng of supporters as it arrived from the Israeli-run Ofer Prison.

Several of the freed inmates were hoisted onto the crowd’s shoulders, including an elderly man who raised his crutches over his head in a triumphant pose.

Earlier in Gaza, hostages Ofer Kalderon and Yarden Bibas were paraded on stage by Hamas fighters before being handed over to the Red Cross in the southern city of Khan Yunis. American-Israeli Keith Siegel was freed shortly thereafter in a similar ceremony at Gaza City’s port in the north.

Israel’s military later confirmed that all three were back in Israel.

Israeli campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum hailed the release as ‘a ray of light in the darkness’.

French-Israeli hostage Kalderon’s uncle Shemi said: ‘We have waited for this moment for a very long time.’

‘I hope that this is a sign of the rebirth of the people of Israel, not just of Ofer, not just of the hostages,’ he said, overcome with emotion.

After holding the hostages for more than 15 months, militants in Gaza began releasing them on January 19 under the terms of the ceasefire deal with Israel.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants have so far handed over 18 hostages to the International Committee of the Red Cross in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, many of them women and minors.

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club advocacy group had said Israel would free 183 prisoners Saturday.

Hamas sources said a fifth hostage-prisoner exchange would take place next Saturday.

During their October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which started the Gaza war, militants abducted Siegel from the Kfar Aza kibbutz community, and Bibas and Kalderon from kibbutz Nir Oz.

Militants took a total of 251 people hostage that day. Of those, 76 remain in Gaza, including at least 34 the military says are dead.

Those seized include Bibas’s wife Shiri and their two children, whom Hamas has declared dead, although Israeli officials have not confirmed that.

Bibas’s sons — Kfir, the youngest hostage, whose second birthday was earlier this month, and his older brother Ariel, whose fifth birthday was in August — have become symbols of the hostages’ ordeal.

‘Our Yarden is supposed to return tomorrow and we are so excited but Shiri and the children still haven’t returned,’ the Bibas family said on Instagram Friday, adding it had ‘such mixed emotions’.

Footage released by the Israeli military showed Bibas being reunited with his sister and father, who held him in a lengthy embrace.

Hundreds had gathered in Tel Aviv’s ‘Hostage Square’ to watch the live broadcast of the latest hostage releases.

Sighs of relief ran through the crowd as the three were freed and handed over to the Red Cross, though the mood was mostly sombre.

At Tel Aviv’s Sheba Hospital, Kalderon, a keen mountain biker, was met by a contingent of cyclist friends and other supporters, beaming and blowing kisses as they chanted his name.

‘It’s amazing, amazing! A year-and-a-half is culminating in this moment,’ said Navit Hermesh. ‘We missed him so much, we worried about him so much, and we are so happy that he’s coming back.’

Ahead of both exchanges in Khan Yunis and Gaza City, scores of masked Hamas fighters stood sentry, apparently to control onlookers, and large crowds were mostly absent.

It was a sharp contrast to Thursday’s frenzied exchange, which drew Israeli condemnation and led it to briefly delay the release of Palestinian prisoners.

After Saturday’s hostage release, Gaza’s key Rafah border crossing was reopened, with the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory saying 50 Palestinian patients had gone through the crossing to Egypt.

Egyptian state-linked channel Al-Qahera News showed footage of the first evacuees, including a child with an autoimmune disease, crossing into Egypt to receive treatment.

Muhammad Zaqout, director for Gaza hospitals, said he hoped the number would increase.

‘We now have 6,000 cases ready to be transferred, and more than 12,000 cases that are in dire need of treatment,’ he said.

Rafah was a vital Gaza aid entry point before the Israeli military seized the Palestinian side of the crossing in May.

The fragile ceasefire’s 42-day first phase hinges on the release of a total of 33 hostages in exchange for around 1,900 people, mostly Palestinians, held in Israeli jails.

Negotiations for a second phase of the deal are set to start on Monday, according to a timeline provided by an Israeli official.

The second phase is expected to cover the release of the remaining captives and to include discussions on a more permanent end to the war.

The ceasefire deal was negotiated by mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States.

US president Donald Trump, who has claimed credit for the deal, is expected to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Tuesday.​

 

[Saif]

Five Arab FMs reject forced displacement of Palestinians

Top diplomats from Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar rejected any forcible displacement of Palestinians during a meeting in Cairo on Saturday, according to a joint statement.

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Five Arab FMs reject forced displacement of Palestinians
Agence France-Presse . Cairo 01 February, 2025, 22:44

Top diplomats from Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar rejected any forcible displacement of Palestinians during a meeting in Cairo on Saturday, according to a joint statement.

The meeting came after US president Donald Trump floated an idea to relocate Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Egypt and Jordan.

The foreign ministers rejected any ‘infringement of the inalienable rights’ of Palestinians, whether by ‘settlement, expulsion, home demolitions, annexation, depopulation of the land of its people through displacement, encouraged transfer or the uprooting of Palestinians from their land’.

Both Egypt and Jordan — key US allies in the region — have repeatedly rejected Trump’s proposal to ‘clean out’ the Gaza Strip.

Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said Wednesday that the ‘displacement of the Palestinian people from their land is an injustice that we cannot take part in’.

The foreign ministers added Saturday that they ‘look forward to working with the administration of US President Donald Trump to achieve a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East, in accordance with the two-state solution’.

The meeting included Arab League secretary general Ahmed Aboul Gheit and Hussein al-Sheikh, secretary general of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation.

Two days after Israel severed all ties with the UN’s main aid agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, the ministers also affirmed the ‘pivotal, indispensable and irreplaceable role’ of the agency, ‘categorically rejecting any attempts to bypass it or limit its role’.​

 

[Saif]

Iran warns against ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Palestinians

Iran on Monday condemned US president Donald Trump’s proposal to relocate Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, warning it would amount to ‘ethnic cleansing’.

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Iran warns against ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Palestinians
Agence France-Presse . Tehran, Iran 03 February, 2025, 22:54

Iran on Monday condemned US president Donald Trump’s proposal to relocate Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, warning it would amount to ‘ethnic cleansing’.

Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said the international community should help Palestinians ‘secure their right to self-determination... rather than pushing for other ideas that would be tantamount to ethnic cleansing’.

The remarks from Baqaei come after Trump repeatedly floated an idea to ‘clean out’ the Gaza Strip and move its population to Egypt and Jordan.

‘Cleaning out Gaza... is part of colonial erasure of (the) Gaza Strip and the whole Palestine,’ Baqaei said, adding that ‘no third party’ can decide on the future of the Palestinian territory.

Iran, which does not recognise Israel, has made support for the Palestinian cause one of the pillars of its foreign policy since the victory of Islamic Revolution in 1979.

Iran and Israel, enemies for years, saw their first direct exchange of fire during the war in Gaza.

Iran provides financial and military backing for Hamas, but insists it and the other groups Tehran supports act independently.

Iranian vice-president Mohammad Javad Zarif recently said that Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 had ‘undermined’ nuclear negotiations between Iran and the United States.​

 

[Saif]

Israel commits to new Gaza ceasefire talks

Israel said it was sending a team to negotiate the next phase in its fragile ceasefire with Hamas, signalling possible progress ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's meeting with US President Donald Trump

www.thedailystar.net

Israel commits to new Gaza ceasefire talks
Netanyahu set to meet Trump; gunman kills two soldiers at West Bank checkpoint

Photo: AFP This picture shows a general view of the destruction as displaced Palestinians return to the northern areas of the Gaza Strip, in Jabalia. The phot was taken recently.

Israel said it was sending a team to negotiate the next phase of a fragile ceasefire with Hamas, signalling possible progress ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's meeting with US President Donald Trump on Tuesday.

Netanyahu will be the first foreign leader to meet Trump in the White House since his return to power last month, and will likely face some pressure to honour the ceasefire the US leader has claimed credit for.

Hours before their meeting, Netanyahu's office said Israel would send a delegation to the Qatari capital Doha later this week for negotiations.

Hamas has said it is ready to negotiate the second stage of the ceasefire, mediated by Qatar, the United States and Egypt, and which should focus on a more permanent end to the war.

The first phase, which took effect on January 19, halted more than 15 months of bombardment and fighting that has levelled much of the Gaza Strip.

In line with the agreement, Hamas and Israel have begun exchanging hostages held in Gaza for prisoners held in Israeli jails.

"Israel is preparing for the working-level delegation to leave for Doha at the end of this week in order to discuss technical details related to the continued implementation of the agreement," Netanyahu's office said following meetings with Trump's advisors, including Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.

Trump has touted a plan to "clean out" Gaza, calling for Palestinians to move to Egypt or Jordan.

Both countries have flatly rejected his proposal, as have the territory's own residents.

"We are the owners of this land; we have always been here, and will always be. The future is ours," said Majed al-Zebda, a father of six whose house was destroyed in the war.

Before leaving for Washington, Netanyahu said Israel's wars with Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and its confrontations with Iran had "redrawn the map" in the Middle East.

"But I believe that working closely with President Trump we can redraw it even further, and for the better," he said.

Trump, who prides himself on his deal-making abilities, will be pushing Netanyahu to stick to the agreement, possibly offering incentives such as a normalisation deal with Saudi Arabia.

Efforts under Trump's predecessor Joe Biden for normalisation froze with the Gaza war, and Saudi Arabia has in recent months hardened its position.

Trump said Sunday that talks with Israel and other Middle Eastern countries were "progressing" -- but warned that he had "no assurances" that the truce in Gaza would hold.

"I have no assurances that it will hold, I mean I've seen people brutalised, nobody's ever seen anything like it, no I have no guarantees that the peace is going to hold," he said.

Witkoff, who met Netanyahu on Monday over terms for the second phase of the truce, said however that he was "certainly hopeful".

Since the truce took effect, Israel has turned its focus to the occupied West Bank, launching a deadly operation in the area around Jenin, a hotbed of Palestinian militancy.

UN aid agency UNRWA, which is now banned in Israel, warned the refugee camp of Jenin was "going into a catastrophic direction".

Today, the Israeli army said a gunman killed two Israeli soldiers in an attack on a military post in Tayasir in the West Bank. The assailant was also killed.

Asked about how he viewed a possible annexation of the West Bank, Trump told reporters: "It's a small country in terms of land."

"It's a pretty small piece of land. And it's amazing that they've been able to do what they've been able to do," he said.

Under the Gaza ceasefire's ongoing 42-day first phase, Hamas was to free 33 hostages in staggered releases in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

Four hostage-prisoner exchanges have already taken place, with militants freeing 18 hostages in exchange for some 600 mostly Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.

The truce has also led to a surge of food, fuel, medical and other aid into Gaza, and allowed people displaced by the war to return to their neighbourhoods in the north of the Palestinian territory.

The conflict started on October 07, 2023, with Israel killing at least 47,518 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The UN considers these figures as reliable.​

 

[Saif]

15 freed Palestinian prisoners arrive in Turkey

Fifteen Palestinian prisoners freed by Israel under the terms of the Gaza ceasefire have arrived in Turkey, foreign minister Hakan Fidan said on Tuesday...

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15 freed Palestinian prisoners arrive in Turkey
Agence France-Presse . Istanbul 05 February, 2025, 00:00

A Palestinian man sits in the sun in front of a destroyed building in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on February 4, 2025. | AFP photo

Fifteen Palestinian prisoners freed by Israel under the terms of the Gaza ceasefire have arrived in Turkey, foreign minister Hakan Fidan said on Tuesday.

‘A few days ago, 15 Palestinians came to Turkey via Cairo after they were released,’ he told a joint press conference with his Egyptian counterpart Badr Abdelatty.

The former detainees were issued visas by the Turkish embassy in Cairo, he said.

The first phase of the Gaza ceasefire saw the release of 33 Israeli hostages held by Hamas in return for the freeing of around 1,900 prisoners, mostly Palestinians, being held in Israeli jails.

Upon their release, many of those prisoners were to be permanently exiled, with Fidan saying in Doha on Sunday that Turkey could take in a number of them.

In 2011, Turkey took in 11 Palestinians who were freed as part of a prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas that saw Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit released in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian detainees.

Meanwhile, a gunman attacked an Israeli military checkpoint in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, fatally wounding two soldiers before troops shot him dead, the military said.

The shooting took place in the morning at a military post in Tayasir in the northern part of the West Bank, the military said in a statement.

‘A terrorist fired at the soldiers at a military post in Tayasir,’ it said, adding the troops killed the gunman during a shootout.

Two other soldiers were ‘severely injured’ in the attack, while six were slightly wounded.

Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad praised Tuesday’s ‘heroic’ attack on the checkpoint, saying ‘the resistance will continue until the occupation is defeated’.

Israeli forces have been engaged in what the army says is ‘an operation to thwart terrorism’ in and around the northern city of Jenin, long a hotbed of militancy.

Israeli commander Major General Avi Bluth, who is responsible for the West Bank, said Tuesday’s attack showed the ‘necessity’ of continuing with the offensive in the northern part of the territory.

‘This morning’s engagement with a despicable terrorist who emerged from the northern Samaria region is the demonstration of the necessity of the counterterrorism operation,’ Bluth told journalists when he visited the scene, vowing to ‘neutralise’ militants in the area.

On Sunday, the army said it had killed at least 50 militants since it launched the operation on January 21. The Palestinian health ministry said on Monday that Israeli forces had killed 70 people in the territory since the start of the year.​

 

[Saif]

Hamas says talks start on second phase of Gaza ceasefire deal

Talks have started on the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal, the spokesperson for the Palestinian militant group Hamas said on Tuesday. The first phase of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into force on Jan 19 after 15 months of war and involved a halt to fighting, the release of s

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Hamas says talks start on second phase of Gaza ceasefire deal
REUTERS
Published :
Feb 04, 2025 21:24
Updated :
Feb 04, 2025 21:24

A Palestinian man operates heavy machinery to open the road and remove the rubble, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in the southern Gaza Strip, February 4, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Hatem Khaled

Talks have started on the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal, the spokesperson for the Palestinian militant group Hamas said on Tuesday.

The first phase of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into force on Jan 19 after 15 months of war and involved a halt to fighting, the release of some of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas and the freeing of some Palestinian prisoners.

Phase two of the three-phase deal is intended to focus on agreements on the release of the remaining hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.

"Contacts and negotiation on the second phase have begun," Hamas spokesperson Abdel-Latif Al-Qanoua said, without providing further details.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said earlier on Tuesday that Israel was preparing to send a high-level delegation to the Qatari capital Doha to discuss continued implementation of the deal.

Netanyahu was due to hold talks with US President Donald Trump on Tuesday, with the focus likely to be on the ceasefire as well as a possible normalisation of relations with Saudi Arabia.

The initial six-week truce, agreed with Egyptian and Qatari mediators and backed by the US, has remained largely intact but prospects for a durable settlement are unclear.

The war began with the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct 7 in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies. Israel's military campaign in Gaza since then has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, Palestinian health authorities say.

Hamas and Netanyahu's government, which includes hardliners who opposed the ceasefire deal, say they are committed to reaching an agreement in the second phase although each has criticised the other over its implementation.

Israeli leaders say Hamas cannot remain in Gaza, but the movement has taken every opportunity it could to show the control it still exerts despite the loss of much of its former leadership and thousands of fighters during the war.

Qanoua said Israel had stalled in implementing the humanitarian protocol of the ongoing first phase, hindering the repair of hospitals, roads, water wells and infrastructure destroyed by Israel's 15-month offensive.

Israel did not immediately comment on Qanoua's assertion although Israeli deputy foreign minister Sharren Haskel told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" show that Hamas had broken a lot of the rules that had been set.

Despite this, she said: "We are hopeful. We want to bring back all of our family members, and we need to make sure that Israel's security can be guarded."​

 

[Saif]

What to expect from Netanyahu’s visit with Trump

The Trump administration is pushing for Israeli hegemony.

www.thedailystar.net

What to expect from Netanyahu’s visit with Trump

Palestinians transport aid supplies on an animal-drawn cart, amid a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, in Gaza City, on February 3, 2025. PHOTO: REUTERS

Since Donald Trump returned to the White House for a second term, global, regional and domestic changes have been accelerating at an unprecedented pace. Trump's inaugural speech and his deluge of executive orders exemplify a nationalist rhetoric, which includes barring student visas of those who participated in "pro-Palestinian" protests that shook the country last year. He heralded "a golden age," in his inaugural address, and his policies have put Washington—and the rest of the world—on notice that Trump is determined to turn his campaign promises into reality. His promises come with a liking of openly self-serving agendas. Nowhere is this more evident than in his administration's approach towards the Middle East, which is defined by a complete bias for Israeli expansionism at the expense of Palestinians.

The policy not only disregards Palestinian rights but also strengthens Israeli hegemony, offering illusions through hardline figures such as Massad Boulos and Steve Witkoff. Under Trump's first administration, the US showed no interest in supporting the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, further exacerbating Palestinian suffering and pushing towards the dissolution of the cause. This time, evidently, will be no different. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit and upcoming discussions with Trump raises questions, and mostly concerns, about what lies ahead. The ceasefire is currently in a fragile state, held in the Gaza Strip with the next stage of negotiations expected to enter the second phase that includes a more permanent end to the conflict.

Netanyahu, the first foreign leader to meet Trump at the White House, will undoubtedly try to preserve a dynamic between the nations where absolutely no threats for Netanyahu's position as the Prime Minister of Israel, and ensure there are no checks and balance for his government—given those members are "loyal" to him. It is the same dynamic that resulted in the Abraham Accords. In this context, it is important to remember that Netanyahu's decision in Israel has not been in the interest of the Israeli public, majority of whom do not approve of him. He dragged the war on for political gains, and got rid of anyone who objected to his decisions, in order to serve his personal interests, starting with the opposition duo Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, then Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, and finally the chief of staff who was replaced by Netanyahu's most loyal commander.

He closed the gaps that disturbed him and confused his absolute rule under the pretext of achieving absolute victory. When speaking to Trump, Netanyahu's logic that "I am Israel" will inarguably dominate. His expansionist aims will be presented, days after Trump has offered—and been rejected—to relocate Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt and Jordan.

Netanyahu's equation with Trump in his first term doubled Israel's dependency on US financial, armed and political wars, and will remain a constant threat to the Middle East, a region whose map both leaders want to change, and the region where they presume authority to throw around citizens and people across borders.

False promises and intermediary characters

Massad Boulos, a billionaire of Lebanese origin and the father-in-law of Tiffany Trump, played a role in crafting deceptive assurances to the Palestinians, suggesting there was a real opportunity for political relief under the Trump administration. These promises follow a long-standing US pattern of selling illusions to Palestinians, offering grand economic or political solutions without any substantive commitments.

Similarly, Steve Witkoff, US billionaire real estate investor and Trump's Middle East envoy, sought to position himself as a mediator, even reportedly visiting Gaza. However, these gestures will only remain as mere theatrics that fall in line with the administration's broader policies that actively reinforce Israeli occupation, settlement expansion, and annexation projects.

Israeli hegemony as a pillar of US strategy

The US-Israel alliance is deeply rooted in strategic interests, making the idea of an independent Palestinian state fundamentally at odds with Washington's long-term vision of "peace" in the Middle East. Israel serves as the linchpin of US influence in the region, and as such, Trump's policies, including his support for Israeli settlements, the relocation of the US embassy to Jerusalem, and the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's unified capital confirm that Washington sees the continuation of Israeli hegemony as a long-term strategic goal.

In the same vein, the Trump administration brokered a truce between Hezbollah and Israel that pushed the deadline for the complete withdrawal of the Israeli occupation forces from Lebanon, further extending Israel's military presence in the country. Trump has completely sidelined Jordan from his strategic calculations, seeking to impose an economic blockade to pressure Amman into aligning with his regional agenda, most notably, by forcing Jordan to absorb Palestinians from Gaza. That is a revival of a proposal that Jordan rejected during Trump's first term, which is now being pushed again through economic coercion, including threats to cut aid.

At the same time, US officials such as Ambassador Mike Huckabee and the US ambassador to the UN have openly championed Israel's "biblical right" to the West Bank. Huckabee, a hardline Anglican, refuses to call the Israeli communities in the West Bank "settlements." The US ambassador to the UN has echoed similar sentiments, reflecting the depth of the indoctrinated anti-Palestinian beliefs in US decision-making.

Trump's policies and his supporters

Trump's support for Israel cannot be separated from his electoral base, which largely consists of Zionists and Evangelical Christians. These groups see support for Israel as a religious and ideological duty. For them, the "Greater Land of Israel" is part of their faith. The usage of religion to occupy land, unfairly, played a major role in pushing the Trump administration to adopt policies that serve the entire Israeli occupation project at the expense of Palestinian human rights.

Since assuming office, Trump has lifted sanctions on Israeli settlers, removed bans on bomb shipments to Israel, and endorsed proposals advocating for the forced transfer of Palestinians under the guise of "evacuating areas."

If we look at Trump's policies realistically, it is clear that his administration is interested in pushing for Israeli hegemony,

Trump's transactionalism

Trump approaches international issues, including the Palestinian cause, through the lens of transactionalism. Rather than addressing the political roots of conflicts or seeking justice, he perceives the region as an opportunity for economic profit. His statements referring to Gaza as a "fantastic place" exemplify his reductionist perspective, trivialising the unimaginable suffering of the Palestinians in Gaza for the past year and a half. Similar to Netanyahu, Trump has also reduced the Palestinians' struggle to a mere commercial project and their land to a profit-making machine. These policies, coated in political hypocrisy, only deepen the suffering of the Palestinian people.

Given this stark reality, it is imperative that we Palestinians, and Palestinian supporters around the world, unite according to a clear strategic vision and work to realign internal political and diplomatic priorities to confront the growing challenges. As the ceasefire in Gaza hangs in the air, the Israeli military, for its part, has shifted its focus over the past two weeks to the West Bank, carrying out airstrikes and blowing up 23 buildings in Jenin on Sunday. If Trump and Netanyahu work to foster the problematic US-Israeli equation that has underlined the conflict with Palestine, the Middle East will only plunge into further unrest. The only hope lies in Trump's economic interests with the Arab states and gulf nations overriding his penchant for far-right nationalists like Netanyahu. The coming days will reveal the future of Gaza in the short-term at least, but that itself is the issue: the future of the besieged strip lies in the hands of two men who, above all, care mostly about themselves.

Yousef SY Ramadan is the ambassador of Palestine to Bangladesh.​