90% of Palestinians don’t believe Hamas committed atrocities on October 7th

Only 10 percent of Palestinians said they’ve seen footage of the massacre.

By Jameson Mitrovich, The Washington Free Beacon

Two-thirds of Palestinians support Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attacks on Israel, according to a poll released last week.

The poll, conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, found that 67 percent of Palestinian respondents supported Hamas’s decision to attack Israel on Oct. 7.

Support is down 4 points from the last poll the center conducted in March.

Among residents in Judea and Samaria, 73 percent said the attacks were the correct decision, up 2 percentage points from March. Fifty-seven percent of Gaza residents supported the attacks, down 14 percentage points from March.

The center said support for the Oct. 7 attacks in the poll does not necessarily mean an endorsement of specific atrocities.

More than 90 percent of respondents did not believe Hamas committed any atrocities in the terrorist group’s attacks, which killed some 1,200 Israelis, including women and children.

Only 10 percent of Palestinians said they’ve seen footage of Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre, according to the researchers. Eighty percent of Palestinians believe the attacks brought international attention to the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Sixty-seven percent of respondents expect Hamas to win, up 3 points from March but down 3 points since December. Ten percent more of Judea and Samaria residents believe Hamas will win than in March.

Only 48 percent of Gazans, however, expect Hamas to win, down 8 percentage points compared with March. Fifty-eight percent of respondents expected Israel and Hamas to reach a ceasefire deal within the next few days.

The poll, conducted between May 26 and June 1, came after Israel began operations in Rafah.

On Monday, the United Nations Security Council approved a Gaza ceasefire plan outlined by President Joe Biden. Hamas, however, demanded significant changes to the ceasefire agreement.

According to a Tuesday report in the Wall Street Journal, Hamas leaders believe a continuation of the war and increased civilian casualties benefit their cause.