Palestinians continue to back Hamas – and deny the massacres of October 7

A survey from October 2025 shows: Majority supports the terrorist organization, rejects disarmament and does not believe in Hamas atrocities.

Two years after the terrorist attack on Israel, it is clear that the majority of Palestinians continue to support Hamas – despite the suffering its war has brought to their own people. According to a representative survey by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR), 53% of respondents consider the attack on October 7, 2023 to be “right”. In the June 2024 survey, the figure was 67%. 86% do not believe that the terrorists carried out massacres on October 7 – even though they filmed the acts themselves and posted them online.

Key figures of the study:

• 53% of Palestinians surveyed consider Hamas’ decision to carry out the attack on October 7 to be correct. In Gaza the figure was 44%, in the West Bank 59%.
  

• 86% do not believe that Hamas committed atrocities in Israel on October 7, 2023. Only ten percent of respondents believe the evidence is real.
  
  
• 72% stated that a relative had either been killed or injured in the war.
  
  
• 60% are satisfied with Hamas’ policies, in Gaza it is a narrow majority of 51%, but in the West Bank 66% support the actions of the terrorists.
  
  
• 70% reject the disarmament of the terrorist organization; among the inhabitants of Gaza the figure is still 55%.
  
  
• A two-state solution, which the Palestinian leadership has repeatedly rejected since 1948, is still supported by 45% of Palestinians, while 53% are against it. This means that more residents in Gaza are in favor of this solution than before the war.

Respondents were also skeptical about the peace plan for Gaza initiated by Donald Trump. Although over 70% have heard of it, only 47% support it and 49% reject it. 70 percent do not believe that the plan will lead to a Palestinian state in the next five years, while 60 percent do not even expect an end to the war.

The survey was conducted under difficult conditions due to the war. In Gaza, people in areas controlled by Hamas were interviewed. It is unclear how freely they were able to speak. It is also unclear how neutral the authors of the study were. Palestinian prisoners who were released in exchange for Israeli hostages referred to them as “hostages” in the preface to the study.

About the study: PCPSR – Public Opinion Poll