Fewer Israelis support Israel taking over Gaza now than in 2024

This week, Israel’s security cabinet approved a plan to launch a large-scale military operation and reoccupy the Gaza Strip if a new ceasefire deal is not reached by mid-May. This deadline coincides with U.S. President Donald Trump’s upcoming visit to the Middle East.

In a survey conducted Feb. 5-March 11, 2025, a third of Israelis said their country should govern Gaza after the Israel-Hamas war ends. Of the response options offered, this was the most popular among Israeli adults overall. Other response options included Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, the United Nations and the people who live in Gaza.

Still, the share of Israelis who say Israel should govern Gaza is down from 40% in 2024.

Our newest survey was fielded during the first phase of the previous ceasefire deal and before hostilities resumed on March 18.

How we did this

This Pew Research Center analysis focuses on Israelis’ views on governance in the Gaza Strip after the Israel-Hamas war ends.

The data is from a survey of 998 Israeli adults conducted face-to-face from Feb. 5 to March 11, 2025. Interviews were conducted in Hebrew and Arabic. The survey is representative of the adult population ages 18 and older, excluding those in East Jerusalem and in outposts that are not sanctioned by the Israeli government. (The survey also did not cover the West Bank or Gaza.)

The survey included an oversample of Arabs in Israel. It was subsequently weighted to be representative of the Israeli adult population with the following variables: gender by ethnicity, age by ethnicity, education, region, urbanicity and probability of selection of respondent.

Here are the questions used for this analysis, along with responses, and the survey methodology.

Control by Israel

Israeli Jews are much more likely than Israeli Arabs to say Israel should govern Gaza after the war (42% vs. 2%). But the share of Jews who hold this view has fallen 8 percentage points since last year, from 50%. The share of Arabs who say this has remained stable.

Looking at political ideology, 57% of Israelis on the right say their country should control Gaza, compared with 14% of those in the center and 2% of those on the left. The share of right-leaning Israelis who say this has fallen from 69% in 2024, while the shares of centrist and left-leaning Israelis who agree have not changed significantly since last year.

Control by Hamas

Israelis do not want Hamas to continue to govern Gaza. Only 1% say Hamas should retain control after the war ends.

Israeli Arabs are slightly more likely to say this than Israeli Jews. Still, only 5% of Arabs say Hamas should govern Gaza. Not a single Israeli Jew in our survey gave this response.

Self-determination

Another 16% of Israelis say the people who live in Gaza should decide who governs it. This is the most popular response among Arab Israelis (45%), while 8% of Jewish Israelis take this position.

Around a third of Israelis on the left (36%) prefer that Gazans decide who governs them, compared with 18% of those in the center and 5% of those on the right.

Control by the Palestinian Authority

Just 6% of Israelis say Gaza should be controlled by a Palestinian Authority (PA) unity government under President Mahmoud Abbas, who is also known as Abu Mazen. A slightly larger share (10%) would prefer rule by the Palestinian Authority but without Abbas in charge.

Israeli Jews are about equally likely to say the Palestinian Authority should govern with or without Abbas. But more Israeli Arabs opt for PA rule without Abbas (22%) than with him (6%).

Control by the United Nations or someone else

A very small share of Israelis (2%) say the United Nations should take over Gaza, including 1% of Jews and 3% of Arabs.

A larger share (11%) would prefer for some other group or person to govern Gaza. And 21% either do not know who should govern the territory or declined to answer the question.

Note: Here are the questions used for this analysis, along with responses, and the survey methodology.