Half of Americans want Biden to pressure Israel over Gaza humanitarian situation: Poll

According to a USA Today/Suffolk University poll, 45 percent of respondents said Biden should do more to pressure Israel to ease the humanitarian crisis.

About 33 percent argued that Biden should do more to support Israel’s security. Nearly 17 percent were undecided and 4.5 percent refused to answer, the survey found.

Younger voters have consistently called on Biden to condemn Israel’s offensive and call for a cease-fire to allow for more humanitarian aid to be sent to civilians in Gaza. The new survey shows support for Palestinians may now be growing among older voters.

Among respondents aged 18 to 34, 49 percent said they support Biden putting more pressure on Israel while 48 percent of respondents aged 35 to 49 said the same. Among respondents aged 50 to 64, 41 percent said they support Biden doing more and 43 percent of respondents 65 years and older did, as well.

Democratic respondents were more likely to say they support Biden increasing his pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; 69 percent wanted to see the president do more, while 49 percent of independent voters said the same. Just 18 percent of Republican respondents said Biden should put more pressure on the U.S. ally.

Public attention has become much more focused in recent days on the starvation of civilians in Gaza, like Yazan Kafarneh, a 10-year-old boy whose skeletal image was featured on the front page of The New York Times last week after circulating widely on social media.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack led by the Palestinian group, Hamas, in which less than 1,200 people were killed.

At least 31,500 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed in Gaza, and 73,500 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Palestinian enclave, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of most food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.