Prior to President Trump’s announcement of an historic peace deal between Israel and Hamas, Israelis were already showing signs of weariness to the current war. As the war lapsed into its second year following the brutal attack on Israeli civilians on October 7, a new poll from the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) showed that 66% of Israelis supported ending the war in Gaza. The poll was conducted online and through telephone surveys from September 14 to 18, sampling from 800 Hebrew-speaking and 200 Arabic-speaking participants.

Aside from finding the majority were in favor of the war ending, the survey found that nearly half (45%) believed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should resign immediately. A previous survey by the IDI found that 72% of respondents found Netanyahu responsible in some way for the security failures of the October 7 attack and should either resign immediately or after the war. In the current survey, Israelis are split as to whether or not security has improved since the attack, with 43% thinking the current situation is better and 44% thinking it is worse than two years ago.

Furthermore, a majority of Israelis (73%) stated they believed that Israel’s standing in the world is worse today than it was two years ago. The study found this was the prevailing thought amongst all three of Israel’s three Jewish political camps. The highest reason respondents wanted the war to end was the belief that continued fighting endangered hostages, with 50.5% of Jewish respondents and 34.5% of Arab respondents citing this reason.

Although the majority supported ending the war, support for a Palestinian state remained low, particularly amongst Jewish respondents. In 2024, 61% of Jewish respondents stated that the Palestinian people had a right to their own state. In 2025, that number had increased to 72%. Even amongst Arabs, support for a Palestinian state dwindled from 89% in 2024 to 58% in 2025. Support for the war to end could rely on how either side complies with the first phase of the signed peace deal. According to the current agreement, a ceasefire is immediately underway while Israel will release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and withdraw behind a “yellow line” during the first 24 hours of the ceasefire. After the ceasefire is ended, Hamas will have 72 hours to release all remaining hostages, dead or alive, from the October 7 attacks. Exactly how many remain alive is unclear, but it is currently believed there are 20 living hostages and 28 deceased.