Poll: Majority of Americans favor invasion of Rafah, Gaza

A large majority of Americans support Israel in its war against Hamas. That's what the latest poll prepared by Harvard Caps and Harris with data from April suggests. According to this poll, 80% of respondents support Israel.

This large majority is reinforced in the older age brackets of the population. Among those over the age of 55, support for Israel in its war in Gaza exceeds 90%. In none of the age groups surveyed does support for Israel drop below 57%. This low is found among Americans between the ages of 18 and 24. The same data states that 71% of Americans believe that the crisis situation in Israel and Gaza was caused by Hamas, while 49% of 18-24 year olds blame Israel.

Similarly, and worryingly, that same tranche of young people supports Hamas terrorists, with 43%. Support for the Palestinian group declines as respondents get older. With a similar progression among age, a majority of Americans also believe that Israel conducts its military operation in Gaza with the intention of avoiding civilian casualtiesis, 67%.

Of Americans who participated in the survey, 65% said they follow news coming out of Gaza and Israel with attention, 23% with a lot of attention and 43% with some attention.

In favor of a military operation in Rafah

The Harvard Caps and Harris poll was released as all international attention was focused around the proposed truce between Israel and Hamas. On Monday, the international community urged the terrorist group to accept a truce with "extraordinarily generous" conditions from Israel.

However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assured Tuesday that whether there is a truce or not, the Israel Defense Forces will enter Rafah. This city, south of the Gaza Strip and bordering Egypt, is the last remaining enclave for Hamas. The IDF halted its assault because of international pressure predicting a humanitarian catastrophe in the event of an assault on the city.

Seventy-two percent of respondents thought favorably about this military advance on the Rafah enclave. The remaining 28% preferred the scenario in which Israel withdraws from Gaza and leaves Hamas in charge of the strip as it was before the war the terrorist group started. Again, the highest percentages of support for the Rafah invasion are among the older age groups among those surveyed.

Regarding the truce, 39% of respondents support an unconditional truce in the Gaza Strip that would restore the status-quo in the region. The remaining 61% believe that a cease-fire can only come after the release of all hostages and after Hamas is removed from power.

The poll also focused on scenarios that Americans are interested in regarding the governance of the Gaza Strip. Seventy-eight percent of respondents believe that Hamas should not control Gaza. After that scenario, opinions diverge further and there is no consensus as to who should fill the power vacuum in the strip. Thirty-five percent believe it should be administered by Israel, another 35% believe it should be a new authority with the approval of Arab nations. Finally, another 30% would leave it in the hands of the Palestinian Authority.