Palestinians protest to demand an end to war, chanting anti-Hamas slogans, in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, March 26, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stringer

Nearly half of Gazans support recent anti-Hamas protests that have taken place in the Palestinian enclave, according to a new poll released by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR).

Conducted in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip from May 1 to May 4, the poll found that 48 percent of Gazans support the recent anti-Hamas protests that have taken place across the Strip since March. The protests, which have been supported by major clans across Gaza but have also been met with threats by Hamas, have featured chants calling Hamas terrorists and demanding they step down from power.

Hamas, an internationally designated terrorist group and offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, violently eliminated its Palestinian opposition in a brief conflict in 2007, taking full control of Gaza after winning legislative elections the prior year.

Nearly two decades later, many Gazans have turned on the Islamist movement, according to the latest PCPSR poll.

However, despite almost half of Gazans saying they agree with the protests, the vast majority of Palestinian residents are not aware that others agree with them. Fifty-four percent said they thought the protests were driven by external parties, while 20 percent said they thought the demonstrations were a mix: both artificial and a genuine reflection of what the population thinks.

Anti-Hamas sentiment was also evident in the decline in support for the terrorist group’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel, in which Hamas-led fighters killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages.

In December 2023, over 70 percent of Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank supported the attack, a figure that remained consistent for months.

However, the Israeli military subsequently revealed in August that it uncovered documents showing Hamas had been secretly fabricating polling results from civilians of the war-torn enclave in order to show higher support for the Oct. 7 attack and hide that the Islamist organization enjoys far less support than previously thought.

Nonetheless, as of May 2025, the PCPSR poll found that just 50 percent now support the massacre, a considerable drop.

The number is even lower among Gazans, just 37 percent of whom responded that they support the Oct. 7 atrocities, while 58 percent said they oppose it. This decline in support is likely due to the devastation caused by the war that has been waged on Hamas in the enclave since then — which has resulted in heavy losses for the terrorist group while also displacing nearly all of Gaza’s civilian population.

Additionally, the perception that Hamas would win the war has dropped precipitously since it began. Just 23 percent of Gazans said they think Hamas will win the current war, while 29 percent responded they think Israel will win, and 46 percent put neither side will win. In contrast, 50 percent of Gazans thought Hamas would win back in December 2023, while 31 percent thought Israel would win.

When asked about what method would be best to achieve the end of the “Israeli occupation” and build a Palestinian state, 41 percent said armed struggle, 33 percent said negotiations, and 20 percent said peaceful resistance. Despite armed struggle having the support of a plurality of Palestinians, it is a large drop from December 2023, when 63 percent thought it was the best method to achieve independence.

Among Gazans in particular, negotiations are more popular than armed struggle. Forty percent responded they primarily support negotiations, 26 percent responded they support peaceful resistance, and 31 percent responded they support armed struggle.

Despite certain trends showing decreased support for Hamas, other data points presented a different picture. In the same survey, for example, 77 percent of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza indicated they oppose Hamas disarming (85 percent in the West Bank and 64 percent in Gaza). This is likely due to the fact that 73 percent of respondents said they do not think Israel will end the war if Hamas releases its hostages and 80 percent do not think Israel will end the war if Hamas disarms.

Additionally, when asked about what political parties they support, Hamas has more backing than Fatah, the main rival Palestinian political faction, among residents in both the West Bank and Gaza. But pluralities also said they do not know who they support.