Nearly twenty years after electing Hamas, Gazans have not turned against their rulers. Polls show overwhelming support for the terror group—even after it dragged Gaza into war and ruin.
A Painful Truth Few Want to Admit
As Israel continues its fight against Hamas, much of the world insists that “ordinary Gazans” are innocent victims, trapped under a regime they never chose. The reality is far more uncomfortable: Gazans did choose Hamas—and nearly two decades later, they still stand by it. Their loyalty isn’t born of fear, but conviction—shaped by years of propaganda, indoctrination, and shared ideology that glorifies violence against Israel.
According to repeated surveys, including one conducted in October 2025 by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR), majorities of Gazans continue to support Hamas, its leadership, and even its October 7 massacre of Israeli civilians.
How Gaza Got Here
Israel completely withdrew from Gaza in 2005—every soldier, every settlement. The following year, Gazans went to the polls in a free election and gave Hamas 44 percent of the vote, defeating Fatah’s 41 percent. Within a year, Hamas violently overthrew its rivals and has ruled Gaza as a terrorist dictatorship ever since.
For years, international media portrayed Gazans as victims of Hamas’s brutality. Yet the data tells another story: Hamas has not merely ruled Gaza—it has reflected its population’s ideology.
What the Numbers Say
The latest PCPSR poll paints a sobering picture. Nearly 53 percent of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank said Hamas’s October 7 attack was “the correct decision.” 69 percent oppose disarming Hamas even if it would end the war. And an astonishing 86 percent deny that Hamas committed atrocities on October 7.
Hamas remains Gaza’s most popular political force: 60 percent approve of its leadership compared to just 21 percent for Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas. In hypothetical elections, Hamas would beat Fatah 35 to 24 percent.
Pollster Dr. Khalil Shikaki explained the reason bluntly in a 2024 NPR interview: “They share Hamas’s values — they will support Hamas for that.”
Civilians or Collaborators?
The myth of an innocent civilian population is further challenged by firsthand testimony from freed Israeli hostages. Many reported being held not in tunnels or military compounds, but in private homes. Some Gazan families even taunted their captives.
Freed hostage Mia Schem told Channel 13 News: “It’s important to me to reveal the real situation about the people who live in Gaza, who they really are, and what I went through there. I experienced hell. Everyone there are terrorists… there are no innocent civilians, not one.”
This civilian complicity extended beyond hosting hostages. Israeli intelligence confirmed that over 2,000 Gazans who crossed into Israel on October 7 were not registered Hamas members. They were “ordinary civilians” who joined the slaughter.
What It Means
The idea that Hamas hides behind civilians is only half true. In reality, Hamas is the civilian population of Gaza—rooted in its neighborhoods, funded by its taxes, and supported by its people.
As Rabbi Pesach Wolicki put it on Eyes on Israel in October 2025: “The population of the Gaza Strip is supportive of Hamas. They embrace that genocidal ideology.”
Israel’s war, then, is not against a fringe militia. It is against a deeply embedded culture of hate that the Gazan public continues to endorse.
The Bottom Line
Nearly twenty years after voting Hamas into power, Gazans have not turned away. They continue to justify its crimes, deny its atrocities, and celebrate its violence. The tragedy of Gaza is not just Hamas’s rule—it’s the people who still choose to follow it.
