Majority of Americans oppose Israeli action in Gaza: Poll

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) - A majority of Americans now disapprove Israel's military actions in the Gaza Strip, compared to November, according to a Gallup poll released Wednesday.

According to the latest results from March 1-20 survey, approval has dropped from 50% to 36% since November, while 55% currently disapprove.

As many as 74% of US adults say they are following news of the Israeli-Hamas situation "closely," similar to the 72% Gallup measured in November. One-third of Americans (34%) say they are following the situation “very closely."

All three major party groups in the US have become "less supportive" of Israel’s actions in Gaza than they were in November, which includes declines of 18 percentage points in approval among both Democrats and independents and a seven-point decline among Republicans.

"Independents have shifted from being divided in their views of the Israeli military action to opposing it. Democrats, who were already largely opposed in November, are even more so now, with 18% approving and 75% disapproving.

"Republicans still support Israel’s military efforts, but a reduced majority -- 64%, down from 71% -- now approve," the poll found.

Earlier this week, the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in Gaza in the month of Ramadan. The US abstained from the vote, rather than use its veto that followed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cancelation of a visit by his senior advisers to the White House.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7 in which some 1,200 Israelis were killed.

More than 32,200 Palestinians have since been killed and over 74,500 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while much of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed.