Deir el-Balah, Gaza, Palestine, and Beirut, Lebanon – Palestinian and Lebanese citizens are preparing for more destruction once Donald Trump begins his second term as president of the United States in January.

As millions of Trump supporters celebrate his victory, many in the Middle East watch with fear.

In Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Lebanon, there are fears that Israel’s loyal ally will encourage its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the far-right coalition government to escalate regional conflicts and destroy any possibility of Palestinian self-determination.

“I have no confidence in America,” said Abu Ali, an 87-year-old in Gaza who, like most people there, has been driven from his home. “I expect the war in Gaza to get worse (under Trump).”

The outgoing administration of US President Joe Biden has supported Israel in its campaign in Gaza.

Since the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,139 people and captured 250, Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza – with the help of US weapons – has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians and nearly entire population of Gaza uprooted. 2.3 million people.

Palestinians there fear that Trump will now give the green light to plans to expel them from the strip.

The Republican president-elect has accused Biden, a Democrat, of trying to contain Israel in Gaza and has made a vague promise to help Israel “finish the job” if he is re-elected.

“I don’t know if the situation will improve under Trump. He might deport us all (from Gaza) instead of killing us,” Abu Mohamad said with a hint of sarcasm from a displaced persons camp in Gaza.

Abu Ali believes that the Palestinians are at the mercy of whoever has power in the US.

As a survivor of the Nakba (“catastrophe”), the expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians by Zionist militias during Israel’s creation in 1948, he said he witnessed several American presidents support Israeli atrocities against his people.

He expects this trend to continue under Trump and emphasized that neither the Nakba nor Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza should be labeled a “war.”

“There are no wars (between Israel and Palestine),” he told Al Jazeera. “It wasn’t a war then. And this is not a war (in Gaza). It is a genocide.”

The view from Lebanon

In Lebanon, many people expect Trump to maintain or increase support for Israel’s war effort.

Israel claims to be fighting the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, yet observers accuse Israel of waging a war against the country’s Shiite community.

In Lebanon, political posts are distributed proportionally based on the country’s religious makeup. The president is always a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the speaker of parliament a Shia Muslim.

Since Lebanon’s civil war, which lasted from 1975 to 1990, Hezbollah has consolidated control over the Shia community by blending religion, identity and resistance into a political movement that resonates with many people. Hezbollah has also suppressed opponents.

Over the past month, Israel has escalated its war against Hezbollah by bombing towns and villages in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley. Residents from entire villages and districts have been uprooted by Israeli fire, which has razed their homes and fueled fears of permanent displacement.

Ali Saleem, who was driven out of the southern city of Sour, said the war under Trump will continue. He said the president-elect could present a ceasefire proposal that would benefit Israel but not Hezbollah or Lebanon.

“Trump will put an offer on the table, and he will say, ‘Do you want to end the war or not?’” Selim, 30, told Al Jazeera. “If we say no, the war will continue.”

Ali Aloweya, 44, added that Trump is likely to defend “Zionist interests” in the region.

He fears that Trump will even allow Israel to build illegal settlements in southern Lebanon, as some far-right Israeli activists and political officials have called for.

“If Trump returns and recommits to the interests of Israelis, we will resist. We are a people of resistance.”

Fear of annexation

During Trump’s first presidential term, from 2017 to 2021, he took measures that harmed Palestinians in the occupied territory and the surrounding region.

He cut U.S. funding for the United Nations Palestinian Relief Agency (UNRWA) and broke with decades of policy by moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Palestinians saw the measures as an attempt to undermine their right of return to their homeland – as stated in UN Resolution 194 – and force them to surrender occupied East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

Israel annexed East Jerusalem and occupied Arab lands after defeating Arab armies in the Six-Day War in 1967.

Tasame Ramadan, a Palestinian human rights activist, now fears that Trump will allow Israel to annex large parts of the West Bank. Activists, analysts and rights groups said Israel has de facto already done this.

“As Palestinians, we don’t expect anything positive from Trump. His decisions are unpredictable, but he often ignores Palestinian voices, and his decisions have a lasting impact on Palestinians,” said Ramadan, who lives in the West Bank city of Nablus.

She noted that in 2019, Trump recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights in Syria, in violation of international law.

She is preparing for similar policies that could harm — even kill — Palestinian aspirations for self-determination.

“Trump’s action ignores our rights and our hopes for freedom and for a sovereign Palestinian state,” she told Al Jazeera.

“But I also don’t think the Palestinians would be happy if (US Vice President Kamala) Harris had won the election. She deserved to lose because of her position on the situation in Palestine and failure to stop the genocide.

“In both cases, neither of these two (candidates) were our best options.”