Iran's attack on Israel tested the country's air defences, but repaired - at least temporarily - Tel Aviv's fractured relation-ship with Washington, and pushed the war and the looming famine in Gaza out of the headlines and down the diplomatic agenda.
In Gaza, where almost all the civilian population is displaced and hungry after more than six months of war, this shift in attention has been felt acutely.
"Countries and peoples were sympathetic to us, but now sympathy has shifted to Israel," said Bashir Alyan, a 52-year-old former employee of the Palestinian Authority now living in a tent in Rafah with his five children.
"Israel became the victim overnight." Alyan's family are mostly living off food aid provided by Unrwa, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, and eat only two meals a day. He has lost 20kg in weight in six months.
"The international pressures that were being exerted on Israel to bring in more aid and to stop the aggression against Gaza are now a thing of the past," he said, but added: "Iran's issues are not our issues. It only pursues its own interests."
The US president, Joe Biden, had been ramping up pressure on Israel to let more aid into Gaza, particularly after the killing of seven people working for the food agency World Central Kitchen in March.
This story is from the April 19, 2024 edition of The Guardian Weekly.
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This story is from the April 19, 2024 edition of The Guardian Weekly.
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