Gaza Strip Crisis: 92% of Palestinians want Long-Term Ceasefire with Israel

As Palestinian factions in Gaza refused to extend the ceasefire with Israel, and militants in the enclave renewed rocket fire at the Jewish state, research has shown they are ignoring the wishes of the civilian population.

An emphatic 92% of Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip are in favour of a long-term ceasefire between Israel and militant group Hamas, a new poll has revealed.

An Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (IDC) survey on the attitudes of the Gazan population towards the Israel Defence Forces' (IDF) 'Operation Protective Edge' showed that 72% hope that their representatives will work for a lasting peace agreement with Israel.

Twenty-five percent of the survey participants said that they believe Hamas had won the conflict with Israel while 8% said that Israel had won, 14% said it was a draw, and 46% answered that both sides had lost.

In addition to these results, 67% said that Hamas was not to blame for the carnage and destruction of the Gaza Strip.

Sixty-eight percent said that they would prefer the reconstruction of the territory, in the aftermath of Israel's ground and air offensive, to the rearming of militant factions who are viewed within Gaza as the 'Resistance' to Israel's control of its borders, airspace and territorial waters.

The poll consisted of 525 participants over the age of 18 and was conducted by phone, the Times of Israel said.

The findings add weight to the belief that there is a section of ordinary, war-weary Palestinians, unaffiliated with Hamas or the Islamic Jihad, who want to find peace with Israel and are not intent on its destruction.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, one civilian has been killed and 11 injured in Israel's renewed shelling of the territory following the end of a 72-hour ceasefire and mortars fired into Israel. At least 1,890 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict.

The Israeli military said that the renewed rocket attacks were "unacceptable, intolerable and short-sighted".

Hamas has not claimed responsibility for any mortar fire while the Islamic Jihad said that it had fired a number of rockets.

The Israeli military confirmed that one civilian and one soldier had both been injured by a mortar fired after the end of the ceasefire.