Poll: Gaza deal sought 'enduring peace,' but Americans are skeptical it will last
Published in News & Features
The freshly inked Gaza peace deal aims to deliver lasting stability to the Palestinian enclave, where two years of war have wrought death and destruction.
But, many Americans are skeptical of the diplomatic coup, saying it is only a matter of time before hostilities between Israel and Hamas restart, according to a new YouGov/Economist poll.
In the survey — which sampled 1,621 U.S. adults Oct. 17-20 — respondents were asked how long they think the peace between the two sides will last.
The largest group, 41%, forecasted it would last less than six months, while 11% predicted six months to a year.
Only 10% believed the peace would hold for one to five years; 3% said it would endure for more than five years and just 2% thought it would last indefinitely. Another 34% were unsure.
On this question, a slight partisan divide emerged. Most Democrats and independents, 56%, said peace in the region would last for a year or less, while 45% of Republicans said the same.
The poll — which has a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points — comes just weeks after President Donald Trump helped broker the initial phase of a peace deal between Israel and Hamas.
As part of the accord, a ceasefire was enacted in Gaza and Israeli hostages were returned in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
The deal paves the way for a possible end to the Israel-Hamas war, which has left some 67,000 Palestinians dead and forced many more to the brink of starvation, due in part to Israeli restrictions on aid, according to Gaza health officials and U.N. officials. The current conflict began in October 2023, when Hamas militants invaded Israel, killing about 1,200 Israelis and taking 250 hostage.
This week, Vice President JD Vance and other Trump administration officials traveled to Israel to shore up the deal and advance its next stages.
Vance expressed optimism, telling reporters, “Things are going frankly better than I expected that they were,” according to CBS News.
However, some officials have cast doubt on the durability of the deal, including Alon Pinkas, an Israeli diplomat and frequent critic of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“This is an agreement (Netanayhu) signed under duress, and now he is developing a new scheme to manipulate Trump,” Pinkas told CBS News.
The fragile peace plan has also been tested in recent days, as clashes have broken out between the Israeli military and Hamas.
On Oct. 19, Israel launched a series of airstrikes in Gaza and cut off aid to the enclave after two Israeli soldiers were killed by Hamas militants, according to The Guardian.
Both sides accused the other of breaching the truce, though they both affirmed their continued commitment to uphold their ends of the peace agreement, according to The New York Times.
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