Less than a third of Israelis believe Israel won the recent Gaza war, and even fewer believe the Hamas terror group will lay down its arms, according to a poll published Thursday.

Meanwhile, weekly surveys by Channel 12 and Zman Yisrael, The Times of Israel’s Hebrew-language sister site, did not find any significant change in the likely standing of the various parties, were elections, which must take place by the end of October, to be held today.

When respondents to the Channel 12 poll were asked whether, in light of the agreements reached over governance of Gaza, their opinion was that Israel won the war, just 29 percent of respondents said yes. A majority (54%) said they believe Israel did not win the war, while 17% said they don’t know.

Thursday’s poll came less than a week after the military located and returned the body of slain police officer Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, who was killed battling terrorists on October 7, 2023. He was the last Israeli, living or dead, held in Gaza.

The goals the government set out for the campaign in Gaza were the return of the hostages, the destruction of Hamas as a military and governing power, and the prevention of a future threat to Israel from the Strip.

Asked what they think will happen going forward, just 17% of Israelis – including just 29% of coalition voters – believe Hamas will lay down its arms, while 73% think it won’t, and 10% said they don’t know. The full breakdown of opposition/coalition voters’ answers to this question was not included in the network’s report.

The disarmament of the Hamas terror group, which took control of Gaza almost two decades ago, was a key demand of Israel in negotiations to end the war, and Jerusalem has said it won’t allow the rebuilding of the devastated Strip before then.

Though demanded by the US plan for Gaza, which the agreed-upon ceasefire was envisioned as the first stage, Hamas has never publicly agreed to give up its weapons.

US President Donald Trump claimed Thursday that “it looks like” Hamas is “going to disarm,” while his special envoy Steve Witkoff said: “They will because they have no choice. They’re........

© The Times of Israel