Majority of Americans believe US should act to help starving Palestinians in Gaza

Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe the US should take action to help Palestinians facing starvation in Gaza, according to the results of a new poll released on Wednesday.

The vast majority of respondents, 65 percent, believed that the US should help Palestinians, in contrast to 28 percent who disagreed in the Reuters/Ipsos poll.

Republican voters made up almost half (41 percent) of the 28 percent polled who did not think the US should help people in Gaza.

Palestinians are currently facing a famine due to Israel's blockade which only allows limited quantities of food, water and fuel into the Strip, in what has been widely condemned as a genocide by human rights organisations, including the United Nations.

An Amnesty International report released on Monday said that Israel is carrying out a deliberate campaign of starvation in Gaza, systematically destroying the health, well-being and social fabric of Palestinian life. 

The poll was conducted within a few weeks of France, Malta, Australia, Canada and the UK announcing that they planned to recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September.

When asked about the recognition of a Palestinian state, more than half of Americans, 58 percent, believe that every country in the United Nations should recognise Palestine as a nation.

A third of respondents, 33 percent, did not believe that UN members should recognise a Palestinian state.

Nine percent opted not to respond to the question.

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The UK's recognition of a Palestinian state has been made contingent on whether a ceasefire is achieved in Gaza. Hamas has accepted the latest proposal set out by mediators, but Israel has not yet submitted an official response.

The proposal is essentially the same as the one Hamas accepted on 1 June before US negotiators pulled out.

Israel is said to be reviewing Hamas's response to the deal, which would include a 60-day truce and the release of half of the Israeli captives still alive in Gaza.

A majority of Americans, 59 percent, also believe that Israel's military response in Gaza has been excessive, while 33 percent of respondents disagreed with this assessment.

The numbers show a steady increase in the number of people who believe that Israel's military response has been disproportionately violent in response to the October 7 attacks since the beginning of the year.

In a similar Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in February 2024, 53 percent of respondents believed that Israel's response had been excessive, compared to 42 percent who disagreed.

Israel's war on Gaza has killed well over 62,000 Palestinians, while just under 270 have died from starvation.

The Reuters/Ipsos survey gathered responses from 4,446 US adults online across the country over six days.

Reuters/ Ipsos said the poll had a margin of error of around two percentage points.