Half of voters in the United States believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, a poll has found.

The share of US voters who believe a genocide is taking place includes 77 percent of Democrats and 51 percent of independents, according to the Quinnipiac University poll released on Wednesday.

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A large majority of Republicans – 64 percent to 20 percent – do not think Israel is committing genocide, according to the poll.

Six in 10 US voters also oppose Washington sending more military aid to Israel, according to the poll, the highest share since Quinnipiac began asking the question in November 2023.

Voters are almost evenly split in their sympathies for Palestinians and Israelis, according to Quinnipiac, with 37 percent saying they are more sympathetic towards Palestinians and 36 percent saying they feel more sympathy for Israelis.

The share of Americans expressing sympathy for Palestinians is the highest – and the share sympathetic towards Israelis the lowest – since Quinnipiac began asking the question in December 2001.

“Support for the Palestinians grows while the appetite for funding Israel militarily dips sharply,” Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy said in a press release accompanying the poll.

“And a harsh assessment of the way Israel is prosecuting the Gaza campaign invokes a word of infamy.”

Quinnipiac surveyed 1,220 self-identified registered voters for the poll, which has a reported margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.

Rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have accused Israel of perpetrating genocide in Gaza, a charge the country’s government has denied.

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In an interim decision in January last year, the International Court of Justice, which adjudicates disputes between states, ruled that South Africa could proceed with its case accusing Israel of genocide and that Palestinians had “plausible rights to protection from genocide”.

In November, the International Criminal Court, which prosecutes individuals, issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and deceased Hamas commander Mohammed Deif for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.