Poll suggests almost half of Gazans willing to leave

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

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

The centre, a think tank based in Ramallah and funded by foreign donors, said in the report that 49 per cent of those surveyed declared that they would be willing to apply to Israel to help them emigrate via Israeli ports and airports, against 50 per cent who said 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.

Although Israel's 19-month campaign has reduced most of the Gaza Strip to rubble and a blockade on aid since March has left the 2.3 million population increasingly short of food, many Palestinians believe that leaving would mean effectively surrendering their home to Israel.

Hardline Israeli ministers have made little secret of their wish to see the whole Gaza Strip population moved out of the enclave, in line with US President Donald Trump's proposal to redevelop the area as a coastal resort under US control.

The survey also stated 48 per cent of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip supported a 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 per cent backed the protests, a rare public show of opposition to the militant group.

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

The centre said the survey's sample was 1270 with a margin of error of +/-3.5 per cent.