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Top Palestinian Authority Official Predicts Trump Will ‘Destroy Iran,’ Decimate Hamas
Then-Republican presidential nominee and current US-President-elect Donald Trump looks on during a rally at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, in Uniondale, New York, US, Sept. 18, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
A top Palestinian leader has predicted that US President-elect Donald Trump will “destroy Iran” and thereby eviscerate the remaining capacities of its proxy Hamas after he enters office next month.
“We see that Trump and the ruling government in Israel are planning to destroy Iran, so Hamas [followers] will have no other choice than to become Palestinian,” Mohammad Hamdan, secretary general of the Palestinian Authority’s ruling Fatah Party, told the New York Post in a new interview.
Hamdan claimed that the Palestinian Authority’s efforts in “confronting Hamas’s ideology” have been stymied by the terrorist group’s ties to the Iranian regime. However, Hamdan told the Post that he believes the Trump administration’s presence will lead to Iran and Hamas’s complete collapse.
In the year following Hamas’s brutal invasion of southern Israel last Oct. 7, Israel has decimated the terrorist group’s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza. At the same time, Hamas has increased its activity in the West Bank, where the Palestinian Authority (PA) exercises limited self-rule, often engaging in direct confrontation with the PA.
Some anti-Israel activists have accused the PA and Fatah, the main Palestinian faction in the West Bank and the movement that controls the PA, of “collaborating” with the Jewish state due to its efforts to combat terrorist activity in the West Bank.
The PA, a rival of Hamas, has sought to publicly distance itself from the terrorist group while also engaging in Palestinian reconciliation talks. Meanwhile, PA officials have been regularly rationalizing Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre and in some cases even denying it took place or falsely claiming Israeli forces carried out the onslaught.
Fatah in April lambasted Iran for meddling in internal Palestinian affairs, accusing the Iranian regime of spreading chaos in its territory.
Two months later, the office of PA President Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of Fatah, said that Iran wants to “sacrifice the blood of the Palestinians” after Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, praised Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
US officials in the Biden administration have reportedly expressed support for a “revitalized” PA — which has long been riddled with allegations of corruption and authoritarianism while governing the Palestinians in the West Bank — to take over Gaza following the Israel-Hamas war.
Nonetheless, Hamdan criticized US influence in the Middle East, arguing that Washington’s decision-making has likely entrenched Islamic extremism in the region.
“Look what happened in Syria. First, the US declared the rebels to be al Qaeda, and then [last week] an American delegation visited Syria,” he told the Post. “And the one before that, when the Americans struck deals with the Taliban in Afghanistan.”
“We as Palestinians believe that most of these extremist Islamic groups are produced by America by its effort to create a new Middle East,” he added.
Despite polling showing the PA’s unpopularity with the general Palestinian population, the Palestinian leader predicted that the end of the war in Gaza could present a “historically unprecedented opportunity” for the PA to consolidate its power in both the coastal enclave and the West Bank.
The post Top Palestinian Authority Official Predicts Trump Will ‘Destroy Iran,’ Decimate Hamas first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.