A survey conducted by the Lazar Research Institute for the Maariv newspaper shows that 59% of Israelis would support a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza if certain conditions are met. The primary condition is the return of all of the 240 hostages (39% of respondents) or the majority of the hostages (16%).
30% of Israelis oppose a ceasefire, regardless of whether the hostages are freed. In contrast, only 3% call for an unconditional ceasefire. Another 8% of all respondents do not have a position on the matter.
A plurality of 44% of respondents stated that they want Israel to remain in control of Gaza following the war against Hamas. 22% would limit this to security control, while 22% favor the reestablishment of Jewish civilian communities in Gaza.
41% support leaving the Strip after the war, most condition this on the transfer of authority to international control (33%), and only 8% support transferring control of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority.
Israel completely withdrew from Gaza in 2005, removing almost 10,000 civilians from the territory and ceding all control to the Palestinian Authority. Hamas won parliamentary elections in Gaza in 2006 and violently seized control of the enclave in 2007, launching wars against Israel in 2008, 2012, 2014, and 2021.
Hamas launched the most devastating terrorist attack in Israeli history on October 7, 2023, when thousands of terrorists crossed the border into Israel and committed the worst massacre of the Jewish people since the Nazi Holocaust. Over 1,400 people were murdered in total and hundreds were kidnapped to Gaza as hostages.
In response to the massacre, Israel declared war against Hamas and launched Operation Swords of Iron, an operation to eliminate Hamas as a threat and to rescue the hostages.