64% of Israelis ‘dissatisfied’ with PM’s Gaza policies

By Abdul Raouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) – Almost two thirds of Israelis are unhappy with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies vis-à-vis the Gaza Strip, according to a recent opinion poll.

The poll, results of which were published Friday by Israeli daily Maariv, shows that as many as 64 percent of Israelis are “dissatisfied” with Netanyahu’s approach to the blockaded territory.

According to the survey, which was conducted by Panels Politics, a Tel Aviv-based consulting firm, 29 percent of respondents said they were “satisfied” with the prime minister’s Gaza policy, while another 7 percent declined to give an opinion.

The poll also revealed a split among Israelis over recent calls for another large-scale military assault on the Hamas-run strip, with 48 percent saying they would support such an operation.

Forty-one percent of respondents voiced opposition to the notion of another major assault, while 11 percent declined to register their opinion.

According to Maariv, the survey included a random sampling of 512 Israelis with an error rate of 4.3 percent.

Recent weeks and months have seen tensions steadily mount along the Gaza-Israel buffer zone.

Late Thursday, a Palestinian source told Anadolu Agency that Israel and Gaza-based resistance factions had hammered out a truce — brokered by Egypt — aimed at restoring calm to the region.

If confirmed, it would be the fifth such temporary truce to have been reached within the last two months following a round of tit-for-tat hostilities.

The last round of hostilities erupted on Tuesday when the Israeli army killed two members of Hamas’s military wing in an airstrike.

According to the Israeli army, as many as 180 rockets have been recently fired into Israeli territory from Gaza, 30 of which were intercepted by Israeli air-defense systems.

At least nine Israelis have been injured by rockets recently fired from Gaza, according to Israeli media reports.

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