Nearly 89 percent of Palestinians support Hamas and other terrorists firing rockets from the Gaza Strip at Israeli civilians, according to a new poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion (PCPO).
As Israelis wait to see if yet another ceasefire agreement with Hamas will hold, the poll shows broad support among Palestinians for Hamas’ most recent rocket assault on the Jewish state, which has been hit by more than 4,000 missiles in the past month.
The poll of 1,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip found that 88.9 percent of those surveyed supported "the firing of rockets from Gaza at Israel," according to the findings.
This is a significant increase since January, when the PCPO found that just 49.1 percent supported such actions.
"The deterrence of the Palestinian Resistance has increased in the wake up of the Israeli military operation ‘Protective Edge,’" the PCPO concluded in a statement.
When asked by a pollster, "Would you please tell us your opinion about the issue of firing rockets at Israel," just over 60 percent of Palestinians polled responded that they "strongly support that." Another 28.6 percent stated, "I support that," while just 1 percent said, "I oppose that," according to the poll.
While a majority of Palestinians surveyed supported rocket attacks on Israel, just 15.9 percent said that it was "the most successful act of the Palestinian Resistance in retaliation for the recent Israeli aggression," the poll found.
Another 23.3 percent said that "infiltrating through the enemy lines" was most effective, while 19.8 responded that "the underground border-crossing tunnels" dug by Hamas are the best way to attack Israelis, according to the poll
A large majority of Palestinians—75.4 percent—said that the "deterrence of the Palestinian resistance" has increased during the latest conflict, according to the poll.
A majority of Palestinians also oppose the deployment of an international peacekeeping team to the Gaza Strip, a plan that has been proposed by Israel and others in recent peace talks.
More than 61 percent of those Palestinians polled said that would not support the deployment of a multi-national United Nations team in Gaza. Nearly 64 percent also rated as "negative" the policy positions of U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip additionally expressed broad support for the Red Cross on the U.N. Relief Works Agency (UNRWA), two humanitarian agencies that have allowed their facilities to be used by Hamas terrorists to wage attacks on Israel.
Just over 58 percent of those surveyed said they "are content" with the Red Cross’ performance, while 71.2 percent expressed a similar sentiment toward UNRWA, which, on several occasions, returned to Hamas rockets that had been stored in its facilities.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was found to still have the support of 54 percent of the Palestinians surveyed in Gaza.
More than 93 percent of those polled opposed the disarmament of Palestinian militant groups, but 88 percent supported a long-term truce, according to additional statistics not included in the English version of the poll but reported by the Palestinian media.
The poll was conducted from Aug. 14 to 19 while a temporary ceasefire was in effect by PCPO President Nabil Kukali.
Respondents were selected from 90 different locations across the Gaza Strip. The poll has a 3.1 percent margin of error.