Hamas has up to 80% support in West Bank, warns former Israeli chief of staff

The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, has between 70 and 80 per cent support in the West Bank, a former Israeli chief of the general staff has warned. Retired General Gadi Eisenkot made his comment when asked about the possibility of a new outbreak of violence between Israel and the Palestinians.

“The question is not whether there will be another outbreak, but when and how intense it will be,” said Eisenkot. “It is quite clear that this will happen. There’s no way that it’s not going to happen… It will happen at the least convenient time and place for us.”

With so much support for Hamas in the West Bank, he added, “It is just a matter of time before another outbreak of violence with the Palestinians.”

According to Akka news website, Eisenkot told Maariv that Israel should soften its stance towards the besieged Gaza Strip. It is “illogical,” he suggested, to tie the easing of the siege of the territory to the release of the “bodies of Israeli soldiers and the two other citizens.”

Israel: internal divisions ‘greater threat’ than foreign enemies, says former army chief