4 in 5 Gazans want to leave the Gaza Strip, survey shows

Data collected by the Israeli Defense Ministry indicates nearly 80% of Gazans want to emigrate.

By World Israel News Staff

Roughly four-fifths of the residents of the Gaza Strip want to emigrate from the war-torn coastal enclave, according to data collected by the Israeli Defense Ministry.

A survey conducted by the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) – the Defense Ministry body that oversees contact with Palestinians living in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza – and  shared with senior Israeli officials found that nearly 80% of Gazans who responded wanted information about leaving the Strip for a third country, a finding Israeli officials say reflects growing despair inside Gaza as reconstruction plans remain tied up in the dispute over Hamas’ disarmament.

The survey, reported by The Jerusalem Post, asked Gazans what issues they wanted “additional information about for the Palestinian public.”

Nearly four in five respondents chose information about relocation mechanisms through the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings.

Another 17.5% asked for information about food supplies and humanitarian aid, while about 2.5% asked about medical humanitarian issues.

Israeli officials interpreted the results as evidence that many civilians are looking beyond short-term aid and toward a way out of Gaza altogether, more than two years after the Hamas-led October 7 attack triggered the war and left much of the territory damaged or destroyed.

The survey’s methodology, sample size and margin of error were not disclosed in the report, making it difficult to assess how representative the findings are.

But one Israeli security official said the real level of interest in leaving may be higher than the figures show.

“It is possible that some respondents did not fully understand the question or may have been reluctant to express their views openly,” the official said during the discussion.

More than 44,000 Gazans have left the Strip since the start of the war, including medical patients and people with visas for third countries, according to the report. About 2,500 have exited through Rafah since the crossing reopened in February under the ceasefire arrangement.

The findings come as the US-backed postwar plan for Gaza remains stalled.

The White House said in January that the Board of Peace would oversee implementation of President Donald Trump’s plan, including reconstruction, international coordination and Gaza’s transition from war to “peace and development.”

But the next phase has been held up by the unresolved demand that Hamas disarm. AP reported last week that Board of Peace envoy Nickolay Mladenov said the ceasefire was stalled over Hamas’ refusal to give up its weapons, a condition Israel and the United States have treated as central to any reconstruction and governance plan.