An Israeli public opinion poll revealed on Monday that about 53% of Israelis believe that the time has come to end the war on the Gaza Strip.
This poll was conducted by the Viterbi Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research at the Israel Democracy Institute, and included a random sample of one thousand Israelis, with a margin of error of 3.10%. According to the results, published by the Israeli newspaper “Maariv”, 53% expressed their belief that the time has come to end the “war.”
About two-thirds of Israelis said that their sense of personal security had deteriorated since October 7, 2023. 62% saw the return of Israeli prisoners from Gaza as Israel’s main goal, while 29% said that overthrowing Hamas was the main goal.
The Israeli war of extermination resulted in more than 139,000 Palestinian martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing persons, amid massive destruction and famine that claimed the lives of dozens of children, in one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world.
Although a year has passed since the start of its war to annihilate Gaza, Israel has been unable to achieve any of its declared goals, especially recovering prisoners from the Gaza Strip and eliminating Hamas’ capabilities.
8% of Israelis expressed their desire for the Palestinian Authority to rule the Gaza Strip after the war.
The future of Israel
Without specifying percentages, the results showed a division between optimists and pessimists about Israel’s future. The highest percentage, 38%, considered a comprehensive, multi-front war to be the biggest external threat to Israel, while the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip ranked last in the ranking of external threats at 8.5%.
Since last September 23, Israel has expanded the scope of the genocide it is committing in Gaza, to include most regions of Lebanon, including the capital, Beirut, through air raids of unprecedented intensity and bloodiness, and it has also begun a ground incursion into its south, ignoring international warnings and UN resolutions.
According to the results of the survey, all senior levels of the political and military leadership received low to average marks for their performance since October 7, 2023. National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, opposition leader Yair Lapid, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received the lowest marks, without specifying the percentages.
Also, 35% of Israelis expressed their belief that Tel Aviv lost the war to Hamas, according to the results of an opinion poll conducted by the official Hebrew channel “Kan” in cooperation with the “Kantar” Institute (non-governmental).
On October 7, 2023, the Al-Qassam Brigades – the military wing of the Hamas movement – carried out Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood” by attacking military bases and settlements in the Gaza envelope, in response to “the daily crimes of the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people and their sanctities, especially Al-Aqsa Mosque,” according to the movement. .
According to Israeli officials, the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation represented the largest intelligence and military failure since the establishment of Israel in 1948 on the occupied Palestinian territories.