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JERUSALEM (CNN) -- A majority of Israelis think their government should hold talks with Hamas for a cease-fire in Gaza and the release of a captured soldier, according to a poll in a leading Israeli newspaper Wednesday.
The poll, published in the liberal newspaper Haaretz, found 64 percent of Israelis in favor of a dialog with the Islamist movement.
Hamas does not recognize Israel's right to exist, and is considered a terrorist organization by the West.
Until recently, the Israeli public had opposed such talks, the newspaper said.
"According to the findings, Israelis are fed up with seven years of Qassam rockets falling on Sderot and the communities near Gaza, as well as the fact that [Gilad] Shalit has been held captive for more than a year and a half," the newspaper said.
Shalit, an Israeli soldier, was 19 when he was captured on June 25, 2006, by Palestinian militants who tunneled into Israel and attacked an army outpost near the Gaza-Israel-Egypt border.
Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza following the abduction. It further restricted border access between the territory and neighboring Israel and Egypt after Hamas took over the the area in June 2007.
Israel has allowed some fuel and medical supplies into Gaza, but has kept the border crossings closed except to meet emergency humanitarian needs. The block on food, fuel and medicine has led to long lines at stores and left hospitals without heat.
Human rights groups blame Israel for punishing civilians "collectively" along with the Hamas leadership. And on Monday, thousands of people formed a human chain along Gaza's roads in a Hamas-led protest over the blockade.
But Israel has said the blockade will continue as long as Palestinian militants fire Qassam rockets -- homemade missiles -- into the central Israeli town of Sderot and other communities in an "almost daily war," according to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
The rockets rarely travel a significant distance but have occasionally injured and killed people.
To curb such attacks, Israel has initiated a major military operation in Gaza.
On Wednesday, an Israeli airstrike hit a minivan in southern Gaza, killing five Hamas militants, Palestinian security and medical sources said. In a second strike minutes later, three more Palestinians were wounded.
JERUSALEM (CNN) -- A majority of Israelis think their government should hold talks with Hamas for a cease-fire in Gaza and the release of a captured soldier, according to a poll in a leading Israeli newspaper Wednesday.
The poll, published in the liberal newspaper Haaretz, found 64 percent of Israelis in favor of a dialog with the Islamist movement.
Hamas does not recognize Israel's right to exist, and is considered a terrorist organization by the West.
Until recently, the Israeli public had opposed such talks, the newspaper said.
"According to the findings, Israelis are fed up with seven years of Qassam rockets falling on Sderot and the communities near Gaza, as well as the fact that [Gilad] Shalit has been held captive for more than a year and a half," the newspaper said.
Shalit, an Israeli soldier, was 19 when he was captured on June 25, 2006, by Palestinian militants who tunneled into Israel and attacked an army outpost near the Gaza-Israel-Egypt border.
Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza following the abduction. It further restricted border access between the territory and neighboring Israel and Egypt after Hamas took over the the area in June 2007.
Israel has allowed some fuel and medical supplies into Gaza, but has kept the border crossings closed except to meet emergency humanitarian needs. The block on food, fuel and medicine has led to long lines at stores and left hospitals without heat.
Human rights groups blame Israel for punishing civilians "collectively" along with the Hamas leadership. And on Monday, thousands of people formed a human chain along Gaza's roads in a Hamas-led protest over the blockade.
But Israel has said the blockade will continue as long as Palestinian militants fire Qassam rockets -- homemade missiles -- into the central Israeli town of Sderot and other communities in an "almost daily war," according to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
The rockets rarely travel a significant distance but have occasionally injured and killed people.
To curb such attacks, Israel has initiated a major military operation in Gaza.
On Wednesday, an Israeli airstrike hit a minivan in southern Gaza, killing five Hamas militants, Palestinian security and medical sources said. In a second strike minutes later, three more Palestinians were wounded.
