U.S. President Donald Trump continues to make scandalous statements regarding the future of Gaza. His remarks about the expulsion of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip have sparked outrage worldwide. These statements were followed by comments about “an announcement on the annexation of the West Bank within a month” and later, “the transfer of Gaza to the U.S.” and “its reconstruction.”

Most observers both in the West and in other parts of the world nowadays discuss the impact of Donald Trump’s return to power in the United States. Following that, most observers have begun analyzing the meaning of Trump’s policies from conceptual and theoretical perspectives. Many Western academicians and intellectuals have been trying to show that Trump’s administration and policies are an anomaly in the Western world. Thus, they mislead the world's public opinion.

A three-phase cease-fire was reached between Hamas and Israel last weekend, brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States. The first phase began last Sunday when Israel released 90 Palestinians from prison in response to Hamas’ release of three Israelis. The Israeli forces ceased their genocidal attacks on the Gaza Strip and the Gazan people breathed a sigh of relief, at least temporarily. Israel promised to allow the entrance of 600 aid trucks daily and to reopen Gaza’s Rafah crossing with Egypt on the seventh day of the agreement and at the last phase, to withdraw its forces from Gaza.

The year 2024 has been recorded as one of the most brutal years for the Palestinian people and the Middle East. Israel insistently continued its genocide in Gaza and its expansionist and aggressive policies toward other regional states. Furthermore, it continued to recklessly violate the basic principles of international law and human rights. It seems that the year 2025 will not bring any change for the Palestinian people. Their destruction and resistance will continue.

The comprehensive and effective attack launched by Hamas on October 7, 2023, the al-Aqsa Flood Operation, has become a turning point not only in the Palestinian-Israeli question and the Middle Eastern balance of power but also in modern world history.

A series of attacks and clashes sent shockwaves through the Middle East over the last week. Israel's massacres in Gaza and low-intensity conflict with Hezbollah at the Lebanese border remain underway. Meanwhile, in the Red Sea, the United States and Britain bombed Yemen's Houthis for the fourth time on Thursday. Washington also relisted the Houthis as a global terrorist group.

The Middle East rang in the new year with assassinations and terror attacks. Saleh al-Arouri, the deputy leader of Hamas' political bureau, was assassinated in Beirut last Tuesday. The following day, two bombings in Kirman, Iran (for which Daesh has claimed responsibility) killed 103 people. As those attacks shifted everyone’s attention to Israel, Iran and Hezbollah pledged to exact “revenge and a heavy price.”

It is clear that Tel Aviv, which never again wants to see a similar attack to that of October 7, does not care about international reactions. A possible ground operation in Gaza, the opening of a new front by Hezbollah, new attacks in Syria, and further developments in the West Bank are among the hot topics on the current agenda. Our region may experience the horrific repercussions of ambitious deterrence.