From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, October 28, 2025
Poll: Most Palestinians want Gaza managed by panel of experts, but don’t want it delinked from Hamas or PA
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleNurit Yohanan is The Times of Israel's Palestinian and Arab world correspondent
A survey released today by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, headed by Khalil Shikaki, shows that 67% of Palestinians — 67% in the West Bank and 66% in Gaza — support “the administration of the Gaza Strip by a committee of Palestinian experts and specialists, including the implementation of the reconstruction program under international auspices and support.”
Opposition to this option stands at 31%.
Support drops, however, when the committee is described as “a Palestinian committee of professionals not affiliated with the Palestinian Authority or Hamas, managing Gaza’s affairs under an international umbrella in line with the Trump Plan.”
In this formulation, a majority of 53% oppose the idea, though a significant minority (45%) support it. A slim majority of 51% of Gazans support such a committee, compared to only 41% of West Bank respondents.
When presented only with the options of independent committee governance versus full or partial PA control, just 33% of respondents favor PA control — either full or shared — over Gaza.
The poll also shows that a large majority — 68% — oppose the entry of an armed Arab force from Egypt, Jordan, or other Arab and Islamic countries to maintain security and disarm Hamas. Opposition is far higher in the West Bank (78%) compared to Gaza (52%).
When asked about Hamas’s decision to launch the October 7, 2023, attack, 53% say it was the right decision. This compares to 50% in May 2025, 54% in September 2024, 67% in June 2024, and 71% in March 2024.
The latest increase comes from Gaza, where 44% now support the decision — up 7 percentage points from the previous poll. In the West Bank, support stands at 59%, identical to May 2025.
When asked whether Hamas committed the October 7 atrocities shown in international media videos — of Hamas fighters systematically killing Israeli civilians, including women and children in their homes — an overwhelming majority of 86% claim Hamas did not commit such acts, while only 10% say it did.
Regarding the two-state solution, 45% express support for it and 53% opposition to it when the idea is presented without details.
If new Palestinian parliamentary elections were held today, 65% say they would participate. Among those, 44% say they would vote for Hamas, 30% for Fatah and 10% for third parties, while 16% remain undecided.
The sample size of the survey is 1,200 people, of whom 760 were interviewed face-to-face in the West Bank and 440 in the Gaza Strip. The margin of error is +/-3.5%.
The Times of Israel Community.