Did Israel use Iran's attack to secure a US green light for Rafah invasion?
Analysis: With US and global attention shifting from Israeli war crimes, did Netanyahu use Iran’s attacks as leverage for his war strategy in Gaza?
23 April 2024
On the evening of 13 April, Iran launched its first direct attack on Israeli soil. As hundreds of drones and missiles came barrelling towards Israel, its allies – including a few friendly Arab neighbours – came rushing to its side, intercepting 99 percent of the projectiles, Israeli officials said.
In the aftermath of the attack, many world leaders issued statements condemning Iran and showing support for Israel. Just days before, these same leaders were reprimanding Tel Aviv for its killing of World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza.
Global outcry over Israel’s war tactics – which international organisations say have killed over 34,000 Palestinians, including 13,000 children, and induced conditions of famine – was rising, and the US was pressuring Israel to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza.
“The Iranian strike has completely distracted the world’s attention from Gaza to the potential for a regional war,” Mairav Zonszein, a Tel Aviv-based analyst with the International Crisis Group (ICG), told The New Arab.
“As a result, it seems that in both Israel and the US, the focus on the humanitarian issue [in Gaza] and on the hostages is going by the wayside,” she added.
Israel launched an airstrike against Iran on 19 April, in what appeared to be a limited, targeted retaliation. Iran said its air defence systems shot down three drones near the Isfahan province in central Iran, where Iran has nuclear facilities and an air base. The Israeli attack damaged a critical anti-aircraft system at the base, according to New York Times satellite imagery.
Both sides were quiet in their response to Israel’s attack, indicating neither country wanted a further escalation that could ignite a full-blown regional conflict.
Zonszein said that Israel’s response was “tempered” to close the end of “this round” of escalation. “But the real question is what will happen next time [Israel] strikes Iranian targets in Syria or elsewhere, which has become relatively routine, but which Iran has threatened to respond to in an effort to change the rules of the game.”