Majority of Palestinians lose trust in Hamas and Fatah, new poll finds

BEIRUT — A new poll by a Palestinian research institute published on Tuesday found declining levels of support for both Fatah and Hamas among Palestinians, with more than half of respondents favoring peace negotiations to end the Israeli occupation, nearly three years after the Israeli war in the Gaza Strip began.

The Jerusalem Media and Communication Center (JMCC) conducted the survey on Aug. 20-25 among 1,200 people: 715 were interviewed face-to-face in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, while 485 were interviewed in Gaza, some of them displaced. The margin of error is +/-3%.

Declining trust in political parties

The poll revealed a serious crisis of confidence in the current Palestinian political landscape, with 55% of Palestinians stating they do not trust any of the existing political factions or figures, compared with 43.3% in a previous JMCC poll conducted in July 2022.

Since the events of Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas crossed into southern Israel and killed more than 1,100 people and took more than 250 hostages, triggering the relentless Israel military offensive in the Gaza Strip, trust in Hamas appears to have declined among Palestinians. The percentage of respondents who said they trust the group fell to 6.7% — 4.5% in the West Bank and 9.9% in Gaza — from 12% in July 2022.

In the West Bank, after trust in Hamas surged to 18.7% following the outbreak of the war in October 2023, it fell significantly to 4.5%, according to the current poll.

As for political figures, 58.6% of respondents said they do not trust anyone. Among the remaining respondents, 6.9% said they trusted Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, 6.3% trusted jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti and 5.8% trusted former Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan.

The JCMM asked only respondents in the West Bank about the Oct. 7 cross-border attack carried out by Hamas. Some 15.7% viewed the attack as serving the Palestinian national interest, down from 45% in September 2024.

Meanwhile, 50.1% said the attack harmed the Palestinian national interest, up from 24.5% in September 2024.

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are still reeling from the devastating Israeli air, ground and sea campaign that began in October 2023 and has killed more than 73,660 Palestinians and displaced more than 1.9 million others, creating what United Nations agencies have described as one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

More than 900 Palestinians were killed in ongoing violence this year despite an October 2025 ceasefire, according to the Gaza-based Health Ministry.

Asked about the November legislative elections, the first in nearly two decades, respondents were almost equally divided over whether the elections would improve the situation in the Palestinian territories. Some 46.8% believed the elections would improve the situation, while 46.4% said they would have no impact.

The survey also found that only 7.6% of respondents would vote for Hamas: 5.6% in the West Bank and 10.5% in the Gaza Strip.

As for the rival Fatah movement, led by Abbas, 27.5% of respondents said they would vote for the movement: 23.5% in the West Bank and 33.4% in the Gaza Strip.

On July 9, Abbas issued a presidential decree setting Nov. 28 as the date for legislative elections. The last such elections were held in January 2006, when Hamas won 76 of the 132 seats of the then-unified Palestinian Legislative Council. The group’s victory sharply deepened divisions among Palestinians, and in 2007 Hamas took over Gaza after ousting the Fatah-affiliated government in heavy clashes between the armed wings of the two parties.

Future prospects

The JMCC also surveyed respondents about the main priorities for the current Palestinian leadership.

Some 50.1% said the leadership should prioritize ending the war in the Gaza Strip. Improving economic conditions ranked second at 16.9%, followed by rebuilding Gaza at 13.4% and achieving national unity at 8.9%.

For 7% of respondents, the Palestinian leadership should focus on confronting settlement activity in the West Bank.

The occupied West Bank has seen rising settler violence and daily military raids on towns and villages in recent months, amid the Israeli government’s push to expand settlements.

As of March 2025, at least 233,600 Israeli settlers lived in occupied east Jerusalem, while around 503,732 lived in the rest of the West Bank in 147 Israeli settlements and 224 outposts, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

An Aug. 28 report by the UN humanitarian agency OCHA documented at least 80 settler attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of this year that resulted in casualties or property damage. At least 23 Palestinians were killed and over 1,040 injured in these attacks.

According to the JMCC poll, 77.9% of respondents in the West Bank said residents of villages subject to settler violence do not receive sufficient support from the PA.

The poll also revealed that a majority of Palestinians now favor peaceful negotiations over armed struggle as a means of resolving the Palestinian issue.

Support for armed resistance dropped to 13.3% — 15.7% in the West Bank and 9.7% in Gaza — compared with 37.1% in September 2023.

In contrast, the percentage of respondents who believed peaceful negotiations were the best approach rose to 55.8%, compared with 28% in September 2023.

The poll also recorded a notable increase in support for a two-state solution, with 47.9% backing the option, up from 27.3% in September 2023.

Regarding the future of the Gaza Strip after the war, the largest segment of respondents, 42.9%, predicted that Gaza would come under international administration, while 17.3% expected the PA to play a role in managing post-war Gaza.

Under US President Donald Trump’s peace plan for the Gaza Strip, announced in September 2025, a Palestinian technocratic body would manage Gaza’s post-war transition under the supervision of Trump's Board of Peace. The plan also envisages the PA assuming control of Gaza after undertaking reforms aimed at improving its governance and security capabilities.

In mid-July, the Board of Peace announced a 15-point road map for the next phase of the Gaza peace plan, which includes the disarmament of Hamas in exchange for a phased Israeli withdrawal from the territory. However, no progress has been reported.

An overwhelming majority of Palestinians do not trust the Trump administration. According to the JMCC poll, 84.8% of respondents viewed the US role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict negatively. Britain ranked second, with 71.9% viewing its role as negatively, followed by Germany at 70.3% and France at 61.1%.