Poll: Majority of Israelis Think Tel Aviv ‘Lost’ Gaza War

Israeli protesters demand deal to release hostages (dpa)
Israeli protesters demand deal to release hostages (dpa)
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Poll: Majority of Israelis Think Tel Aviv ‘Lost’ Gaza War

Israeli protesters demand deal to release hostages (dpa)
Israeli protesters demand deal to release hostages (dpa)

Amid Israeli attempts to isolate the Gaza Strip, take advantage of the war in Lebanon and threaten to extend it to Iran, a majority of Israelis still believe that there is no chance of victory over Hamas.
A poll conducted by the Israeli public broadcaster KAN revealed that just 27% of Israelis believe their country has “won the war in Gaza,” while 35% think it has “lost.” The remainder, or 38% of the Israelis, said they were uncertain about their answer.
An in-depth analysis of the poll also showed that when asked about the outcome Israel achieved in the war in Gaza, uncertainty reigns among supporters of the ruling coalition parties led by Benjamin Netanyahu, who speaks of a complete and overwhelming victory.
Among coalition voters, 47% felt Israel had won.
Meanwhile 48% of opposition voters believed the country had lost.
According to the new poll, 14% of Israeli settlers said they are willing to live in settlements near the border with the Gaza Strip after the end of the war. In return, some 86% of Israeli settlers expressed their unwillingness to live in those settlements.
Additionally, 12% of Israelis reported losing a family member or close friend during the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and the war that Israel waged in response to the attack. Also, 36% said they know someone who died, indicating that 48% are personally connected to a casualty of the war.
Last week, a new poll by Israeli newspaper Maariv showed that a third of Israelis are considering emigrating because of the war.
The poll showed that 35% of respondents said they considered emigrating from Israel, including 24% who considered permanent emigration and 11% who considered moving away temporarily.
The poll also showed that 47% of the respondents said they “very much want” their children to live in Israel and 26% only “want” their children to live there while 21% affirmed that they do not want their children to live in Israel. Six percent of the respondents said they did not wish to answer the question.
Of those polled, the elderly, religious and ultra-Orthodox community were the most happy living in Israel. In return, Israelis aged 30-44, young couples, and voters of opposition parties were found to be most dissatisfied with living in Israel.
The polls showed that 66% of the respondents believe that Israel is a good country to live in, compared to 33% who think it is not. Also, 49% said they felt personally secure, 23% did not, and 26% said their personal security status was average.

 



Lebanon Military Says One Soldier Killed, 18 Hurt in Israeli Strike on Army Center

Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
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Lebanon Military Says One Soldier Killed, 18 Hurt in Israeli Strike on Army Center

Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb

An Israeli strike on a Lebanese army center on Sunday killed one soldier and wounded 18 others, the Lebanese military said.

It was the latest in a series of Israeli strikes that have killed over 40 Lebanese troops, even as the military has largely kept to the sidelines in the war between Israel and Hezbollah.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has said previous strikes on Lebanese troops were accidental and that they are not a target of its campaign against Hezbollah.

Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned it as an assault on US-led ceasefire efforts, calling it a “direct, bloody message rejecting all efforts and ongoing contacts” to end the war.

“(Israel is) again writing in Lebanese blood a brazen rejection of the solution that is being discussed,” a statement from his office read.

The strike occurred in southwestern Lebanon on the coastal road between Tyre and Naqoura, where there has been heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of the Gaza Strip ignited the war there. Hezbollah has portrayed the attacks as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas. Iran supports both armed groups.

Israel has launched retaliatory airstrikes since the rocket fire began, and in September the low-level conflict erupted into all-out war, as Israel launched waves of airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon and killed Hezbollah's top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and several of his top commanders.

Israeli airstrikes early Saturday pounded central Beirut, killing at least 20 people and wounding 66, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. Hezbollah has continued to fire regular barrages into Israel, forcing people to race for shelters and occasionally killing or wounding them.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. The fighting has displaced about 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population.

On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by bombardments in northern Israel and in battle following Israel's ground invasion in early October. Around 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from the country's north.

Hezbollah fired barrages of rockets into northern and central Israel on Sunday, some of which were intercepted.

Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service said it was treating two people in the central city of Petah Tikva, a 23-year-old man who was lightly wounded by a blast and a 70-year-old woman suffering from smoke inhalation from a car that caught fire. The first responders said they also treated two women in their 50s who were wounded in northern Israel.

It was unclear whether the injuries and damage were caused by the rockets or interceptors.

The Biden administration has spent months trying to broker a ceasefire, and US envoy Amos Hochstein was back in the region last week.

The emerging agreement would pave the way for the withdrawal of Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops from southern Lebanon below the Litani River in accordance with the UN Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war. Lebanese troops would patrol the area, with the presence of UN peacekeepers.