Summary
The Palestinian pollster who heads the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research and co-authored, with Michael Spagat, the Gaza family survey whose claim that the Gaza Ministry of Health undercounts war casualties is assessed at length in Debunking the Genocide Allegations (Debunking the Genocide Allegations: A Reexamination of the Israel-Hamas War from October 7, 2023 to June 1, 2025, PDF p.143-150).
Details
- Shikaki and the PCPSR are described as widely regarded as the preeminent Palestinian polling organisation; the survey’s teams were 10 teams of Gazan PCPSR employees working designated quadrants centred on Israel’s humanitarian zone (PDF p.143-144).
- In August 2024 the IDF released documents it claims were captured from Hamas alleging interference in Shikaki’s Gazan polling teams, with data manipulated to create an impression of greater support for Hamas and for the October 7 attack; Shikaki’s public response expressed confidence in his Gazan teams while disavowing knowledge of interference or ability to rule it out, and he insisted the documents, while presumably genuine, represented an attempt to scam Hamas for funds for a manipulation operation that was never implemented (PDF p.147-148).
- Shikaki announced a transition to entirely electronic recording of polls in Gaza after the incident, but no change to personnel or vetting protocols; his next polls, in September 2024, gave radically different results from earlier polls (PDF p.148).
Related pages
Debunking the Genocide Allegations: A Reexamination of the Israel-Hamas War from October 7, 2023 to June 1, 2025, Michael Spagat, Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, Gaza Ministry of Health