STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT. A significant majority of Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza say that they don’t envision a future where they can coexist peacefully alongside Israel, according to the findings of a poll.
The densely-populated Gaza enclave has been subjected to an unprecedented bombardment for more than five weeks as part of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s vow to “eliminate Hamas” in response to the militant group’s cross-border attack on October 7.
But amid signs of an increasing erosion of international support for Israel’s military response, which aid organizations say is worsening an already alarming humanitarian crisis in the besieged strip of land, a large majority of Palestinians have indicated that they will be unable to “forgive” Israel for its actions.
According to a poll of Palestinians conducted by the Arab World for Research and Development (AWRAD), some 90% of respondents believe that “coexistence [with Israel] is increasingly impossible” given the scale of its military action in Gaza.
The poll, conducted between October 31 and November 7, also found that 98% reported they will “never forget and never forgive” Israel.
At least 11,500 people have died in Gaza since October 7, Palestinian health officials said on Wednesday, adding that 4,710 of these are children and that 200 medical personnel have also died as a result of Israeli artillery, airstrikes or ground offensives. Around 1.6 million people, or about 70% of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, have also been displaced, the European Council on Refugees and Exiles said.
Last week, Israel said that around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, died in the incursion by Hamas last month, revising down a prior estimate of 1,400.
Elsewhere in the AWRAD poll, 100% of respondents said that there is no “safe space” in Gaza, while 65% view Israel’s offensive as a “war against all Palestinians” and not solely against Hamas.
It also found that almost half of people, 48%, said that their homes had been destroyed or partially damaged and that 90% supported a ceasefire. A total of 91% of respondents said that they had no trust in information provided to them by the Israeli military.
The poll was conducted via face-to-face interviews with 688 Palestinians. AWRAD said its sample included people of varying socioeconomic backgrounds and had an equal representation of men and women.
