Only 10 percent of Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank believe that Hamas committed war crimes on October 7 when it invaded Israel and attacked border communities, a recent poll found.
By comparison, 95 percent of Palestinian respondents polled in late November to early December agreed that Israel had perpetrated such atrocities, with 85 percent saying they had not seen any footage from “international news outlets” of Hamas atrocities. Only 1 percent of West Bank residents believed the Palestinian terror group massacred civilians.
The study, led by Khalil Shikaki of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, found that an overwhelming majority of the more the 1,200 Palestinians polled – 82 percent of West Bankers and 57 percent of Gazans – supported the 10/7 “offensive” given its outcome so far.
“It is worth noting that there are significant differences between the attitudes of the residents of the West Bank compared to those of the Gaza Strip, in terms of the ‘correctness’ of the Hamas’ decision (and other matters), as the attitudes of Gazans tend to show a greater degree of skepticism about that decision,” Shikaki wrote in the report published on Wednesday. “It is clear from the findings that believing in the ‘correctness’ of Hamas’ decision does not mean support for all acts that might have been committed by Hamas fighters on October 7.”
The widespread backing of the 10/7 invasion, which featured the well-documented slaughter of civilians, has led to increased support for Hamas in both enclaves of the Palestinian territories, with support trebling in the West Bank compared to three months ago. “It is worth noting that support for Hamas usually rises temporarily during or immediately after a war and then returns to the previous level several months after the end of the war,” the disclaimer after the statistic reads.
Surging support for Hamas has coincided with plummeting confidence in Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmoud Abbas. Nearly 90 percent of those surveyed now wish to see Abbas, last elected in January 2005, leave office. The frontrunners to replace Yasser Arafat’s ailing successor include Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, imprisoned in Israel on terrorism charges, and Hamas boss Ismail Haniyeh. In a two-way election between Abbas and Haniyeh, the former would receive under 16 percent of support, according to Shikaki’s research.
“Israel is stuck in Gaza,” Shikaki told the Associated Press early Wednesday before the survey’s results were publicized. “Maybe the next [Israeli] government will decide that Netanyahu is not right in putting all these conditions, and they might decide to withdraw unilaterally from Gaza. But the default for the future, for Israel and Gaza, is that Israel is in full reoccupation of Gaza.”
“The level of anti-Americanism and anti-Westernism is huge among Palestinians because of the positions they have taken regarding international humanitarian law and what is happening in Gaza,” Shikaki, a well-respected pollster, added.