76% of Israelis say there are ‘no innocents’ in Gaza: Poll

A new survey indicates that the vast majority of Israelis believe there are “no innocents” in the Gaza Strip, reflecting a rise in extremist views within Israeli society.

The poll, conducted by Hebrew University’s aChord Center, found that 76 percent of respondents partially or fully agreed with the statement.

Even among opposition voters, 47 percent fully endorsed the claim, highlighting broad support across political lines.

The results suggest that most Israelis accept the government’s framing of Gaza as "collectively hostile."

Israeli researcher Ron Gerlitz described the results of the survey as "difficult findings" that indicated attitudes that fed into acceptance of Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza.

"These findings can of course shed light on the enormous number of Palestinian civilians killed in the war in Gaza," he wrote on X.

"It is important for me to write that agreeing with 'there are no innocents' is not the same as 'we need to kill everyone there'. It's not the same thing. But the consciousness of 'there are no innocents' is the toxic soil that grows dynamics and actions that cause the killing of innocents," Gerlitz said.

The survey comes amid rising racist attacks against Palestinians across the occupied territories.

Anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab sentiment across the 1948 Israeli-occupied territories had already been growing in recent years.

Last week, a Palestinian bus driver was attacked by a group of Jewish youths shouting "death to Arabs," the latest incident in a string of racist attacks on Palestinian citizens.

The assault took place on Saturday in Petah Tikva, a central district in the occupied territories,  Israeli news website Ynet reported.

According to a widely circulated online footage of the attack, a young Israeli used an emergency hammer to smash the windshield of the bus beside a woman holding a baby before striking one of the bus doors.

Israel pounds Gaza City outskirts as army warns demolition could take ‘over a year’

The Israeli military’s chief of staff has warned that the process of demolishing Gaza City, as ordered by Tel Aviv, could potentially take over a year to complete and would impose additional strain on Israeli soldiers.

The bus driver, Mohammed Abd al-Hadi, told Ynet the incident happened after he asked the young passengers to stop screaming and vandalizing the vehicle.

"They insulted me and shouted racist sayings like 'Jew - good; Arab - son of a bitch' and 'death to Arabs'," al Hadi said.

The Abraham Initiatives, an organization that seeks to tackle violence against Palestinians, says the incidents were "not exceptional", but rather "part of a dangerous wave of violence and racism against Arab citizens of Israel."

"This violence is a direct result of ongoing incitement and governmental lawlessness, which allows the attackers to raise their hands against people just because of their origin," the group said.

Ex-US ambassador to Tel Aviv backs Israeli massacre of Palestinian children in Gaza

Former US ambassador to Tel Aviv, Jacob Lew, defends the Israeli military’s killing of children in the Gaza Strip.

Israel’s Haaretz newspaper earlier reported that Channel 14 has systematically labeled all Gaza casualties as “terrorists and, on multiple occasions, praised the killing or harming of civilians.”

Meanwhile, a new investigation by Forensic Architecture (FA), a research group, found that the Israeli military had pursued a deliberate strategy of starvation that has pushed Gaza towards famine. 

The report details how Israel weaponized aid, forcing Palestinians to travel long distances to reach military-run distribution centers in the south of the Strip, while opening fire on the same civilians as they sought aid.

Researchers documented attacks on civilians, the destruction of infrastructure such as food warehouses, and looting by Israeli-backed gangs.

Israel starves 10 more Palestinians in Gaza, death toll rises to 313

Ten Palestinians, including two children, have starved to death in Gaza in the past 24 hours

Israeli forces have killed 51 Palestinians since Wednesday morning, including 12 people waiting for aid.

Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive against Gaza since October 2023, killing over 62,900 Palestinians, mostly women and children.

As Israel continues to close all Gaza border crossings to humanitarian aid since early March, aid agencies have warned of an imminent famine threatening the territory’s 2.4 million residents. In Gaza City alone, more than half a million people are already facing a famine.

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