Despairing Gazans plead to leave, for borders to open

“This morning I woke up to a WhatsApp message on my phone which said, “Make Gaza great again, what a great idea!” Now that was not from a MAGA farmer in Alabama, it was from my friend in Gaza who’s currently in Gaza city,” said commentator and author of “Israelophobia," Jake Wallis Simons.

In an interview on Britain’s Talk TV, he said that he has been told many Gazans are in favor of Trump’s plans.

Wallis Simons shared some of his conversation with his friend in Gaza, saying, “I spoke to him on the phone and 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 have to rely on aid handouts. We have so many millions of refugees around the world… yet the Palestinians are meant to put up with horrendous conditions brought upon their heads by Hamas.”

This sentiment is found repeated by others relaying voices of dissent in Gaza. The U.S. based Center for Peace Communications is a non-profit seeking to “resolve identity-based conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa” and promote a culture of peacemaking.

Working through education, civil engagement, advocacy and art, the organization aims to build support for reconciliation and amplify voices for peace.

One of their projects, “Whispered in Gaza,” gives voice to ordinary Gazan people who would be in danger if they spoke out publicly, and seeks to expose life under Hamas rule. The initiative presents messages from Gazan people paired with an animated video and distorted voice, so the world can hear what they have to say, even as they remain anonymous. 

A similar project, “Voices from Gaza,” again presents messages after distorting the voices to disguise the identity of the speaker, enabling them to be heard by the world.

As part of this initiative to tell the “untold stories”, the Center for Peace Communications recently posted a video on 𝕏 of Gazans willing to show their faces and give their public response to Trump’s remarks and the future of Gaza. 

One man called out from the rubble around him, saying to the camera, “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.”

“I'm asking Trump himself to relocate us. I'll be the first one to go.”

Gazans respond to President Trump’s envisioned relocation of civilians.

Watch: pic.twitter.com/tExKqZJHjP

— Center for Peace Communications (@PeaceComCenter) February 6, 2025

Another man pleads to the countries Trump has suggested should give refuge for the people of Gaza, saying: “To our brotherly Egyptian and Jordanian – and King Abdullah: We hope they open the crossings for the youth who are leaving, for the wounded, for the sick, the elderly who need treatment.”

A third man expresses the indignity of their situation and the plight that ordinary Gazan people are now in. He indicates that Gazan people will most likely go along with Trump’s plan in the absence of any viable alternative. 

“In the end people will face reality,” he said, continuing, “They’ll emigrate because they want to live. They want to live in a country that protects them and supports them, meaning, a country where you can hold your head up high. If our country isn’t looking out for us, where should we go?”

Ayman Khalid, a Palestinian columnist for Al Arabiya, confirmed on the video, “Gaza will need to go through a very long period of reconstruction. In that long period of time where will the youth go? Where will the wounded go? We have more than 10,000 wounded. Even before the last war a stream of people were leaving Gaza – workers, students, businesspeople. That’s how it looked then now those trends will double.”

He added, “There’s no hope for the reconstruction of Gaza not in a year, nor 10, nor 15. Hamas created an unprecedented disaster and crisis that was unimaginable. And the victim in all cases is the Palestinians and the people of Gaza.” 

“Hamas is shooting people in the legs. Their feet are amputated as a result of this gunfire. And that’s it, the person is finished. So long as Hamas remains on the scene, this will keep on happening. Every day we’ll have new killings. After every battle they say they’re victorious. But what is this victory? If we don’t seriously address the issue of Hamas leaving the political scene we cannot talk about anything else. If Hamas remains the people will emigrate, willingly or unwillingly.”

The video concludes with Khalid asking, “Will Gazans want to return to a tent?” He ends by saying, “People who haven’t lived in tent conditions cannot judge.”

In a similar video presented by commentator Yishai Fleisher, a Gazan man assures Trump, “All you have to do is open the border, and leave the rest to us.”