A poll among Palestiniansconducted amid the war between Israel and Hamas, records an increase in support for the Palestinian movement Hamas, even in the Gaza Strip, and an overwhelming rejection of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, with nearly 90% of poll respondents to say he should resign, according to the Associated Press.

The Palestinian Authority rules parts of the West Bank and ruled the Gaza Strip until Hamas came to power in the Palestinian enclave in 2007. The Palestinians have not held elections since 2006, when Hamas won a parliamentary majority.

According to the poll, 57% of respondents in the Gaza Strip and 82% in the West Bank believe that Hamas was right to launch the October 7 attackin which approximately 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians, were killed and more than 240 were taken hostage.

That attack led to Israel’s declared war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 18,608 people there, according to the latest tally from the Hamas government’s health ministry. Almost 70% of the victims are women and children.

A large majority of respondents believe Hamas’ claims that it acted to defend the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem against Jewish extremists and win the release of Palestinian prisoners.

Only 10% say they believe Hamas has committed war crimes; with the vast majority saying they have not seen videos showing Hamas fighters committing atrocities.

With the results of the survey indicating a further erosion of the legitimacy of the Palestinian Authority, at a time when there is no obvious path to the resumption of credible negotiations on the establishment of a Palestinian state, the absence of an alternative option (on the part of the Israeli government) to the post-war Strip Gaza is an Israeli occupation without end, pollster Khalil Shikaki told The Associated Press ahead of the release of the results of the survey by the Palestinian Center for Political Research (PSR). “Israel is stuck in Gaza,” he stressed.

Shikaki noted that residents of the Gaza Strip are more critical of Hamas than those in the West Bank; stressing that support for Hamas usually rises during periods of armed conflict before settling down, and that even now, the majority of Palestinians do not support Hamas.

In total, 88% want Abbas to step down, up 10 percentage points from three months ago. In the West Bank, this percentage reaches 92%.

At the same time, 44% of respondents living in the West Bank say they support Hamas; from just 12% in September. In the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian movement that rules it enjoys 42% support, up from 38% three months ago.

Support for the Palestinian Authority fell further, with nearly 60% now saying it should be disbanded.

According to Shikaki, the most popular Palestinian politician remains Marwan Barghouti, a prominent figure in Abbas’s Fatah movement who is serving multiple life sentences in an Israeli prison for his alleged role in deadly attacks during the second Palestinian uprising two decades ago.

In a presidential contest between Ismail Haniyeh and Mahmoud Abbas, the exiled political leader of Hamas would beat the Palestinian Authority leader by a wide margin, according to the poll.

At the same time, the poll also registers widespread disappointment for the international community, especially the US, European countries, and even the United Nations, who are pushing for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, but without having succeeded.

The survey was conducted among 1,231 people in the West Bank and Gaza from November 22 to December 2, with a margin of error of +/- 4 percentage points.