Courtesy of JNS. Photo credit: Tsafrir Abayov/Flash90
Israelis who support the reestablishment of Israeli communities in Gaza hold a protest march near the border with the Strip, July 30, 2025
(JNS) — A prominent Israeli political figure on Thursday called an Israel Hayom poll indicating that 52% of Israelis support the reestablishment of Jewish communities in Gaza a “miracle.”
“The truth is it’s a miracle,” said Religious Zionism Party Director-General Yehuda Wald of the survey, in a post on social media. “Despite all the panic in the [news] channels, despite all the dire explanatory commentary from the former officials, despite … the … delegitimization campaign against Religious Zionism figures who express these value positions, large segments of the Israeli people haven’t lost their way.
“They want to return to Gush Katif, they want to defeat Hamas, and they want courage and not weakness. There is hope,” he continued.
The survey, conducted by the Maagar Mochot research institution, found that 83% of ultra-Orthodox respondents support renewed Jewish communal life in Gaza, with only 5% answering in the negative and the remainder offering no opinion.
Among the wider religious public, 67% believe Jewish life in Gaza should be renewed, compared to 17% who believe it should not and the rest saying they didn’t know.
Among secular Israelis, 50% oppose a return to Gaza compared to 29% who support it.
The Nachala settlement movement has called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz and the government to “make a courageous decision and immediately begin building Jewish communities in northern Gaza.
“This is a national mission of the highest order — returning settlement to Gaza is not only a moral response but a security and strategic necessity,” the NGO said.
Wednesday saw a march opposite the border with the northern Gaza Strip, a stone’s throw from where the former Israeli communities of Nisanit, Dugit and Elei Sinai once stood. Thousands of participants — including the families of hostages and casualties of the war, Gush Katif evacuees, soldiers, rabbis and Knesset members — called for “returning to the Gaza region.”
The survey was conducted on July 28-29 under the direction of Professor Yitzhak Katz. A combined online panel and telephone survey was conducted among 510 members of the adult Israeli population (18 and over). The margin of error is 4.4% at a confidence level of 95%.
