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Monday, September 29, 2025
Some Gazans declare Trump’s Gaza plan a ‘farce’ and ‘unrealistic’; others dare to hope
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Residents of war-torn Gaza express skepticism over the latest peace plan unveiled by US President Donald Trump, dismissing it as a farce that fails to end the war.
“It’s clear that this plan is unrealistic,” 39-year-old Ibrahim Joudeh tells AFP from his shelter in the so-called humanitarian zone of Al-Mawasi in south Gaza.
“It’s drafted with conditions that the US and Israel know Hamas will never accept. For us, that means the war and the suffering will continue,” says the computer programmer, originally from the southern city of Rafah, devastated by a military offensive that began in May.
Abu Mazen Nassar, 52, is equally pessimistic and fears that the plan aimed to trick Palestinian terror groups into releasing hostages held in Gaza, and no peace in return.
“This is all manipulation. What does it mean to hand over all the prisoners without official guarantees to end the war?” says Nassar, displaced from his home in north Gaza in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah.
“We as a people will not accept this farce,” he says, adding that “whatever Hamas decides now about the deal, it’s too late.”
“Hamas has lost us and drowned us in the flood it created.”
Some, like Anas Sorour, a 31-year-old street vendor from the south Gazan city of Khan Younis also displaced to Al-Mawasi, dares to hope.
“Despite everything we’ve lived through and lost in this war… I still have hope,” Sorour tells AFP.
“No war lasts forever. This time I am very optimistic, and God willing it will be a moment of joy that makes us forget our pain and our anguish,” he adds.
But others like 29-year-old homemaker Najwa Muslim, can no longer imagine anything changing.
“I haven’t only lost faith in the deal; I’ve lost faith in life”, Muslim tells AFP from central Gaza, where she sought refuge after being displaced from Gaza City, currently under a massive Israeli military offensive.
“If there was a real intention to stop the war, they wouldn’t have waited this long. That’s why I don’t believe any of their words.”
Mohammed al-Beltaji, a 47-year-old from Gaza City, summarizes his view of negotiations to AFP.
“As always, Israel agrees, then Hamas refuses — or the other way around. It’s all a game, and we, the people, are the ones paying the price.”
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.