Gazans want new US president to end the war

GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories  — Palestinians in war-ravaged Gaza told AFP on Tuesday that whoever emerges victorious in the US presidential election must end the conflict in the territory, which has taken an appalling human toll.

"We are hanging by a thread, and like every other people in the world, we are looking for someone who can stop the war," said Ayman Al Omreiti, 45, from Gaza City's Al Daraj neighbourhood.

"Our hope is that the American people will choose someone who can end the suffering of the Palestinian people."

Millions of Americans began to cast their ballots on Tuesday in a contest that pre-election polling suggested was too close to call.

Omreiti, who has been displaced several times during the 13 months since the war broke out, said he hoped Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris would defeat Republican rival Donald Trump.

"The Palestinian people are worried about a possible Trump victory, and we hope the results will be favourable for his opponent, Harris, because she has called for an end to the war several times," he said.

Another Palestinian resident of Gaza City, Hani Ajur, is clear in his view: Whoever becomes president must end the war.

Ajur's son and brother were killed in the war, while his home was destroyed by Israeli shelling.

"We hope that after all these sacrifices... whoever wins, whether it is Trump or Harris, will put an end to this war and bring peace to the region," he said.

"We are exhausted with the bombings, the destruction, the martyrs, the wounded and the devastation. We're just tired of this life."

Recent polls in Israel show a majority of Israelis favour Trump, but photographer Andy Alpern's choice for the White House is Harris.

He said Trump "might give us more of a free hand [but] do I think it's worth it? I don't," Alpern, 57, who resides in Israeli-occupied Golan Heights said.

"I don't think Kamala is as bad as everyone thinks she is, and she will do good things."

But he hoped the United States would continue to support Israel to "rid Lebanon of Hizbollah and Gaza of Hamas".

"These are evil organisations," he said.

"They have just as much against America and the West as they do against us."

Israel has been fighting Hamas in Gaza since the Palestinian militant group launched a deadly attack on Israel on October 7 last year, which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 43,391 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to the territory's health ministry, figures considered reliable by the UN.