Hamas, Palestinian public opinion and opposition

One principle, not an opinion-poll claim

Hamas is a terrorist organisation. Explaining the range of Palestinian views neither legitimises its attacks on civilians nor assigns its responsibility to every Palestinian. The same distinction applies between any government and the people living under it. See the site’s editorial policy.

Support can mean different things: identification with a party, preference among candidates, approval of a particular act, or a view about arms under specific conditions. None can stand in for all the others. Nor does support by itself establish that someone endorses every crime committed by an organisation.

Two different measures

Read the figures with their limits

PCPSR: fieldwork 7–11 October 2026. Face-to-face: 1,397 respondents (West Bank 909; Gaza 488). Overall margin: ±3.5 percentage points, not regional.¹

Not voting intention. Labels paraphrase findings; the disarmament condition matters.

War, displacement and fear can affect who is reached and what people feel able to say. A sampling margin does not capture all those effects. These figures are a dated observation, not a permanent verdict on a people or evidence of what every individual thinks.

Opposition exists. Its size is a separate question.

Amnesty documented Gaza protests from March to May 2025 against the war and Hamas-led authorities, and threats, interrogations and beatings by Hamas security forces.²

Such protests show that opposition is real, not that protesters represent a majority. Silence does not prove consent; opposition to Hamas does not automatically mean support for Israel or for a peace agreement.