A survey by the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) has found that a majority of the Israeli public, both Jews and Arabs, supports fully completing the hostage deal and postponing a decision on the future of Hamas rule in Gaza.
About one-fifth of the general public—and about a quarter of Jewish respondents—prefer to halt the hostage deal after the first phase and resume fighting in Gaza to topple Hamas.
Among Arab respondents, three out of four support completing the deal, while only a small minority favors a return to fighting.
The survey was conducted late last week and early this week, with findings released ahead of the meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington DC, where the continuation of negotiations for the release of the hostages will also be discussed.
A similar JPPI survey in January found that 55% of the public supported the statement: “We can agree to Hamas’ demands and bring back the hostages, as there will always be a way to resume fighting later.”
Analyzing responses by ideological affiliation, outside of respondents who identify as right wing, there is a majority in favor of “completing the hostage deal in full and deciding later on Hamas rule in Gaza”— while among those on right, nearly half (48%) support returning to war after the first phase of the deal, compared to about a third (32%) who support continuing with the deal.
Looking at party affiliation, supporters of two parties—Religious Zionism and Otzma Yehudit—stand out in their preference for resuming the war after the first phase. Seventy percent of Religious Zionism supporters and 60% of Otzma Yehudit supporters (those who say they would vote for these parties today) favor returning to war.
However, when analyzed by religiosity level, a majority of religious respondents (who do not all vote for these parties) prefer completing the deal (45% vs. 38% who prefer stopping the deal after the first phase).
Among current Likud supporters, there is a slight majority in favor of continuing the deal (43% vs. 40%). Opposition party supporters overwhelmingly prefer continuing the deal—89% of National Unity supporters, 98% of Yesh Atid supporters, 79% of Yisrael Beytenu supporters, and 99% of Democratic Party supporters.