Support for US military aid to Israel drops amid Gaza war

Forty-five percent of registered voters said they supported the U.S. sending additional “military aid to Israel for their efforts in the war” with Palestinian militant group Hamas in the poll released Wednesday. This is a drop from a previous Quinnipiac poll from November, in which 54 percent of registered voters said they supported additional military aid to Israel.

Support for additional military aid to Israel has also dropped among both Democratic and Republican voters, per the poll.

In November, 71 and 45 percent of Democratic and Republican voters said they were in favor of more military aid to Israel, respectively. In December, those numbers were down, with 65 percent of Republican voters and 36 percent of Democratic voters saying they supported more military aid to Israel.

The poll’s release comes a day after a group of House Democrats sent a letter to President Biden urging him to push harder for efforts to make “an immediate and significant shift” in Israeli military strategy.

“We are deeply concerned by [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s] current military strategy in Gaza. The mounting civilian death toll and humanitarian crisis are unacceptable and not in line with American interests; nor do they advance the cause of security for our ally Israel,” the letter reads.

“We also believe it jeopardizes efforts to destroy the terrorist organization Hamas and secure the release of all hostages,” the lawmakers continued.

At least 20,000 people have been killed in the besieged Gaza Strip since Israel began bombarding the enclave more than 10 weeks ago, according to Palestinian officials.

At least 8,000 children and 6,200 women are among those killed, Gaza’s Government Media Office reported on Wednesday.