Backing for Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel has dropped significantly in Gaza during the last six months, a poll of Palestinians in the enclave shows, as conditions deteriorate after almost a year of war.
In March, 71 percent of Palestinians in Gaza who responded to the poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research said they believed that Hamas’ decision to launch the October 7 attack was correct. When the poll was conducted this month, that number stood at just 39 percent.
The poll, which has been conducted every three months since September last year, surveyed 410 people across Gaza, in 41 locations, a smaller sample size than when the poll was carried out in March.
The researchers also spoke with 790 people in the West Bank. It has a margin of error of +/- 3.5 percent.
Conducting a poll during wartime is of course incredibly difficult – as acknowledged by the pollster. The center said the interviews were conducted in areas where there was no on-going daily fighting.
The survey paints a bleak picture of life in Gaza, with just under a third of people saying they have enough food. Of those polled, 57 percent say that a family member has been killed during the war. And an increasing number of people there – nearly half – believe that neither Hamas nor Israel will emerge victorious in the war.
Support for Hamas as a political party in Gaza also fell, but has remained relatively stable through the war. With almost no viable political rivals, it remains the most popular political actor there: 35 percent in Gaza said they supported Hamas, down from a high of 42 percent in December.
