Palestinians hold the belief that coexisting with Israel is not possible – Poll

According to a survey, a large percentage of Palestinians claim they will “never forgive” Israel for its military action in Gaza.

According to the results of a study, a sizable majority of Palestinians who reside in the West Bank and Gaza believe they do not see a time when they would be able to live in peace with Israel.

In response to the militant group’s cross-border attack on October 7, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to “eliminate Hamas” and for more than five weeks, the densely populated Gaza Strip has been under an unprecedented barrage.

In the midst of the beleaguered strip of land, aid organisations claim that Israel’s military response is exacerbating the already dire humanitarian situation. Nevertheless, a significant portion of Palestinians have expressed that they will never be able to “forgive” Israel for its actions.

About 90% of Palestinians surveyed by the Arab World for Research and Development (AWRAD) said that, considering the extent of Israel’s military activity in Gaza, “coexistence [with Israel] is increasingly impossible.”

98% of respondents to the poll, which was done between October 31 and November 7, said they would “never forget and never forgive” Israel.

Since October 7, at least 11,500 Palestinians have died in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials, who also stated that 200 medical professionals have also perished as a consequence of Israeli artillery, airstrikes, or ground offensives. Of these, 4,710 are children. The European Council on Refugees and Exiles reported on Friday that 1.6 million Palestinians, or around 70% of Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants, had also been forced to flee their homes.

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Israel revised down its earlier estimate of 1,400 victims to 1,200 last week, indicating that the majority of those killed in Hamas’ raid last month were civilians.

In another section of the AWRAD survey, all participants (100%) stated that there isn’t a “safe space” in Gaza, and half of them see Israel’s offensive as a “war against all Palestinians,” not just Hamas.

Additionally, it revealed that 90% of respondents were in favour of a ceasefire and 48% of respondents claimed that their homes had been completely or partially destroyed. Ninety-one percent of those surveyed stated they didn’t trust any information that the Israeli military gave them.

688 Palestinians participated in in-person interviews for the poll. According to AWRAD, there was an equal representation of males and women in its sample, and participants came from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds.