Gaza Poll

Interestin story from NPR on a polling pf Palestinians, from the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, located in Ramallah, in the West Bank.

The Biden administration has opined that most Palestinians in Gaza don't like Hamas and do not support the Oct 7 attack on Israel that started this war. The poll shows the opposite to be true - a majority of those polled support the Oct 7 attack on Israel, and their support for Hamas is actually growing.

It's a long article but here's a bit of it ...

A pollster sheds light on Palestinian attitudes toward the U.S., Israel and Hamas

[...] The results from the latest survey, published on June 12, showed that more than 60% of Palestinians in Gaza reported losing family members in the current war, which has killed more than 39,000 Palestinians. Two-thirds of respondents said they continue to support the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack on Israel, in which militants killed 1,200 people and took at least 240 hostages, and 80% believe it put the Palestinian issue at the center of global attention.

About half of those responding to the survey in Gaza said they expected Hamas to win the war with Israel and return to rule the Gaza Strip, while a quarter said they expected Israel to win ....

In the June 12 poll, 40% of Palestinians in both the West Bank and Gaza said they would prefer Hamas to govern them, followed by Fatah (20%), the Palestinian National Liberation Movement in control of the West Bank and led by Mahmoud Abbas. Eight percent chose others. Support for Hamas over the preceding three months increased by 6%.

Shikaki explains this significant support for Hamas despite the suffering caused by the war: “The support for Hamas comes from various sources, but the most important one is because Palestinians share Hamas' values. They will support Hamas for that, even if Hamas makes wrong moves here or there." ....