Nearly half of Gazans willing to emigrate from enclave with Israeli help — survey

Almost half of Gazans may be willing to apply to Israel to help them leave to other countries, according to a survey that also shows significant support for anti-Hamas protests.

The survey by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research is based on polling of people across the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank between May 1-4, some six weeks after Israeli forces resumed operations in Gaza following the breakdown of a brief ceasefire.

The center, a think tank based in Ramallah and funded by Western donors, says in the report that 49% of those surveyed declared that they would be willing to apply to Israel to help them emigrate via Israeli ports and airports, against 50% who say they would not be willing to do so.

Israeli officials have said that Israel will help Gazans who wish to leave the enclave, but it has made little headway persuading other countries to accept them.

The survey also finds that 48% of Palestinians in Gaza supported the series of anti-Hamas demonstrations that sprang up in various places around the enclave, a much higher level than among Palestinians in the West Bank, where only 14% back the protests, a rare public show of opposition to the terror group.

At the same time, 54% of Gazans also thought the protests, which Hamas said were set up by Israeli intelligence services, are steered by outside hands and only 20% say they express the real opinion of the population.

The Center says the survey’s sample is 1,270 with a margin of error of +/-3.5%.