53% of Israelis believe Tel Aviv did not defeat Hamas, 22% believe army lost war

Fifty-three per cent of Israelis believe that Israel has not yet defeated Hamas in the Gaza Strip, while 22 per cent shared their view that Tel Aviv has already lost the war.

The data comes from an opinion poll conducted by the Lazar Research Institute for Israel’s Maariv newspaper, published on Friday evening, as the war enters its 100th day tomorrow.

When asked whether Israel won or lost the war, nine per cent said that Israel achieved a great victory, 53 per cent said that it had not yet won but is in the process of doing so, while 22 per cent of Israelis believed that their country has already lost the war. Moreover, eight per cent said that it suffered a crushing defeat, while another eight per cent said they did not know.

The newspaper reported: “Given the feeling of progress being slow in the fighting in the Gaza Strip, the continued stalemate in the issue of the captured Israelis, and the ongoing war of attrition in the north of the country, the Likud Party (led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) declined to an unprecedented level of only 16 seats,” out of a total of 120 seats in the Knesset.

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According to the poll, Likud declined to 16 seats, losing three seats since last week, while the National Unity party, led by Benny Gantz, continues to strengthen its position, reaching 39 seats, an increase of three from the last poll. Meanwhile, the Yesh Atid party, headed by opposition leader Yair Lapid, won 13 seats compared to 14 in the previous poll.

In total, this week, the government coalition led by Netanyahu has dropped to 44 seats, compared to 46 in the previous poll, and the opposition parties have risen to 71 seats, which qualifies them to form a government if elections were held today.

When asked: “Who is more suited to be Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu or Benny Gantz?” 51 per cent of Israelis said Gantz, only 29 per cent said Netanyahu and 20 per cent said they did not know.

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