A new poll found that an overwhelming majority of Palestinian Arabs both in Gaza and Judea and Samaria see Hamas's decision to attack Israel on October 7th as a correct one.
The poll, run by Dr. Khalil Shikaki or Walid Ladadweh of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research Ramallah, asked respondents if, In their view, Hamas's decision to launch its offensive against Israel on October 7th was a correct or incorrect one. 71% of Gazans answered yes, 23% answered no, and 6% did not know.
In Judea and Samaria, the answers were similar, with 71% answering yes, 16% answering no, and 13% saying they did not know.
The survey compared the answers to those in a similar poll taken in December, then only 57% of Gazans believed that the massacre was correct and 82% of Judea and Samaria Arabs supported the attack.
The survey also asked whether the respondents believed that Hamas committed war crimes during the attack. While the overwhelming majority of respondents answered "no," those who were exposed to footage from the massacre were slightly more likely to answer "yes" (17%) than those who did not (2%).
With this, only a small majority (52%) would prefer to see Hamas in control of the Gaza Strip.
The poll also asked Gazans about the distribution of humanitarian aid. 90% said that the distribution of aid by local Palestinian organizations was discriminatory on political grounds, while 70% said the aid distributed by UNRWA was.