Jerusalem:

A series of diplomatic setbacks, strong condemnation of a recent Gaza strike, and intense protests on Western campuses have left Israelis feeling their country is unfairly isolated.

Israelis expected unwavering support from their allies and the international community after Hamas’s October 7 attack.

But as Israel’s retaliatory offensive against Hamas in Gaza deepened, it seems to have lost the sympathy it initially received after the unprecedented attack.

This loss of support intensified following last week’s Israeli strike on a camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah, which killed at least 45 people, according to Gazan officials. The military has denied targeting the camp.

The strike drew condemnations from Istanbul to Beijing and from Washington to Paris.

On social media platform Instagram, more than 47 million posts with the hashtag “All eyes on Rafah” have been recorded since the strike.

But Israelis remain defiant despite the growing isolation.

“I don’t think Israel should care what the world has to say… I support our military 100 percent,” Netanel Aronson, a 24-year-old Israeli-American, told AFP.

“I pray for them every day that they should be safe and come home.”

– ‘Tragedy for everyone’ –

At least 36,379 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in Gaza in Israeli bombardments and ground offensive since October 7, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run territory.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign came after the Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,189 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

The militants also took 252 people as hostages, of which 121 are still held in Gaza, including 37 the military says are dead.

“It is a tragedy for everyone,” said Nathalie, who declined to give her last name, referring also to the fate of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

“Since everybody is connected, we can see what’s happening. We feel that we are hated,” the 50-year-old said.

“We have the feeling that we are accused of being colonialists and imperialists. But we see ourselves as refugees,” she added, echoing the feeling of many Jews who arrived during the creation of Israel in 1948.

The Palestinians call the creation of Israel as the Nakba — or “catastrophe” — when about 760,000 Palestinians fled or were forced from their homes by the war over Israel’s creation.

Last month, Israel faced a series of diplomatic setbacks.

While the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to stop its ongoing offensive in Rafah, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court sought arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, along with three senior Hamas leaders.

Ireland, Norway and Spain also recognised a Palestinian state in a coordinated decision on Tuesday, while Slovenia’s parliament is due to vote on such a proposal next week.

– World ‘against Israel’ –

Political analyst Dahlia Scheindlin said Israelis were aware the war was damaging their global standing.

“(Israelis) think the world is against Israel. They think that many institutions and countries are anti-Semitic, and that there is a double standard,” Scheindlin said.

She regretted the “devastating” impact of the war on Gazans, but said Israelis see the ongoing military campaign as an “existential struggle” for their people.

Scheindlin said Israelis have been demoralised over the setbacks at international tribunals after Israel was accused of committing some of the worst crimes in Gaza.

Such crimes “Israelis believed were only ever committed against them”, she added.

“So, it’s very hard for them to accept this. They fear the isolation.”

Israelis are also countering the social media campaign “All Eyes on Rafah,” with their own that says “If your eyes are on Rafah, then help us find the hostages”.

In a survey by US-based Pew Research Center before the May 26 strike on a camp of displaced people in Rafah, 40 percent of Israelis thought the country would “definitely” achieve its Gaza war goals.

Only four percent of the Jewish majority thought Israel’s military response in the Palestinian territory had gone “too far”.

But for Christians like Annie Dikbikian, the war has only increased “the hatred” on both sides.

“It’s affecting us… as Christians,” said the Jerusalem-based hairdresser, who hoped “peace, love, and respect” would return soon.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Smoke billows after Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday, May 6, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

The story so far: Israel advancing with a long-anticipated ground invasion of Rafah and seizing control of the Gaza side of the border crossing with Egypt on Tuesday, shortly after Hamas announced its acceptance of a ceasefire proposal brokered by Egypt and Qatar, has cast a shadow on the prospects of halting the war, which has claimed the lives of over 34,700 people so far.

Israeli tanks moved into the southern part of the city overnight, while warplanes bombed areas near the crucial Rafah border crossing, killing at least 23 Palestinians and injuring several others. The invasion, described by the U.S. as a “limited operation,” unfolded a day after the Israeli military ordered over a million people sheltering in Rafah to evacuate parts of the southern Gaza Strip city and relocate to an “expanded humanitarian zone” near Khan Younis, in preparation for an assault to “eradicate” Hamas.

Explained | How bad is the humanitarian crisis in Gaza?

The military operation in Rafah: what, why and how

Israel ordered the Rafah evacuation after four of its soldiers were killed in a rocket attack claimed by the Hamas armed wing near Rafah on May 5. The evacuation order prompted widespread concern about the potential ramifications for the millions of displaced Palestinians camping there.

The U.S. cautioned PM Benjamin Netanyahu against launching a southern Gaza offensive. Terming the impending invasion as a “red line” for his administration, President Joe Biden said further military action risked more casualties and devastation. Further, in a telephonic conversation with the Israeli PM, the U.S. President again highlighted the necessity of a ceasefire with Hamas to protect Israeli hostages and emphasised it as the best course of action.

Human rights groups and aid agencies also warned that an Israeli incursion could result in dire consequences, potentially leading to a “bloodbath.”

Against the backdrop of an imminent all-out military assault on Rafah, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh announced that the group accepted a ceasefire proposal mediated by Qatar and Egypt. Israel must decide whether it accepts or obstructs a truce, a Hamas official said. The ball is now in Israel’s court, the official told AFP.

Israel, meanwhile, remained defiant and insisted on invading Rafah despite international pressure. Tel Aviv said it would “stand alone if it has to.”

Hours after Hamas’ announcement raised hopes of a pause in firing, Mr. Netanyahu rejected the ceasefire agreement as “far from Israel’s necessary demands,” claiming that its terms had been “softened.”

In a statement, the Israeli PM said the war Cabinet had unanimously decided to continue its operation in Rafah to “apply military pressure on Hamas,” advance the release of hostages and achieve the “other objectives” of the war. It added that a delegation will be nonetheless sent to meet with mediators in Cairo “to exhaust the possibility” of reaching an agreement on “terms acceptable to Israel.”

On Sunday night, the military alert dropped leaflets and sent messages, ordering people to relocate to an expanded humanitarian zone ‘Muwasi,’ a makeshift tent camp. Notably, the Israeli military had issued similar evacuation orders at the onset of the war in 2023, often directing civilians to vacate combat zones before offensive actions and asking them to move south to Rafah.

Soon after, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) launched a “precise counterterrorism operation to eliminate Hamas terrorists and infrastructure” in eastern Rafah. Twenty-three people, including six women and five children, were killed in the series of strikes and bombardment across Rafah, Associated Press reported. 

In a first since its 2005 disengagement from Gaza, the Israeli military returned to the point and seized control of the Rafah border crossing on the Gaza side. Video clips shared online by the IDF showed Israeli flags flying at the checkpoint and atop tanks. “The IDF will continue pursuing Hamas everywhere in Gaza until all the hostages that they’re holding in captivity are back home,” it posted on X.

The View From India | Why truce remains elusive in Gaza

What is the significance of Rafah for Israel? 

The southern city of Rafah has served as a shelter for an estimated 1.4 million Palestinians forced to leave their homes to escape military action after Israel launched a military campaign following Hamas’ October 2023 attacks in Israel in which at least 1,200 people were killed. 

The Rafah crossing has been a lifeline for hundreds of thousands of people caught in the conflict. The border point is the main exit point from Gaza, and the sole crossing not directly under Israeli control. It is the centre for delivery of critical aid, food and humanitarian assistance, facilitating the exit of injured people and foreign passport holders from the strife-torn area. The displaced Palestinians and residents, living in densely packed camps and apartments in Rafah, are entirely dependent on international aid for food and basic supplies arriving in Gaza from the Rafah border crossing.

The area emerged as a focal point in the escalating conflict in recent months amid Israel’s claims that the crossing is used for “terrorist purposes.” Israel contended that Rafah is Hamas’ “last bastion” and shelters thousands of fighters and potentially numerous hostages. The administration claimed that four of the militant group’s 24 battalions are based in the area.

Israeli PM Netanyahu repeatedly deemed Rafah crucial to achieve his government’s “central goal” of dismantling the military and governing capabilities of Hamas. “It is impossible to achieve the goal of the war of eliminating Hamas by leaving four Hamas battalions in Rafah,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a statement in February. 

A week ago, the Israeli PM vowed to enter Rafah and destroy Hamas’ remaining battalions, regardless of whether a deal was reached or not. “The idea that we will stop the war before achieving all of its goals is out of the question. We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate Hamas’ battalions there — with a deal or without a deal, to achieve total victory,” Mr. Netanyahu later said in a meeting with the families of the hostages.

With Israeli troops taking control of the Rafah crossing on Tuesday, Israel now has full authority over the entry and exit of people and aid. The development has sparked global concern over the fate of Gaza’s 2.3 million people, left hungry and homeless due to the war.

Men walk past debris in a heavily damaged room at a school run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) at the Shati camp for Palestinian refugees, west of Gaza City, on May 7, 2024 amid the ongoing conflict in the Palestinian territory between Israel and the militant group Hamas.
| Photo Credit: AFP

The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S., a senior administration official said on May 8.

The shipment was supposed to consist of 1,800 2,000-pound (900-kilogram) bombs and 1,700 500-pound (225-kilogram) bombs, according to the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter, with the focus of U.S. concern being the larger explosives and how they could be used in a dense urban setting. More than 1 million civilians are sheltering in Rafah after evacuating other parts of Gaza amid Israel’s war on Hamas, which came after the militant group’s deadly attack on Israel on Oct. 7.

The U.S. has historically provided enormous amounts of military aid to Israel. That has only accelerated in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that killed some 1,200 in Israel and led to about 250 being taken captive by militants. The pausing of the aid shipment is the most striking manifestation of the growing daylight between Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and the administration of President Joe Biden, which has called on Israel to do far more to protect the lives of innocent civilians in Gaza.

Mr. Biden’s administration in April began reviewing future transfers of military assistance as Mr. Netanyahu’s government appeared to move closer toward an invasion of Rafah, despite months of opposition from the White House. The official said the decision to pause the shipment was made last week and no final decision had been made yet on whether to proceed with the shipment at a later date.

U.S. officials had declined for days to comment on the halted transfer, word of which came as Mr. Biden on May 8 described U.S. support for Israel as “ironclad, even when we disagree.”

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to square the arms holdup with Mr. Biden’s rhetoric in support of Israel, saying only, “Two things could be true.”

Israeli troops on May 8 seized control of Gaza’s vital Rafah border crossing in what the White House described as a limited operation that stopped short of the full-on Israeli invasion of the city that Mr. Biden has repeatedly warned against on humanitarian grounds, most recently in a Monday call with Mr. Netanyahu.

Israel has ordered the evacuation of 100,000 Palestinians from the city. Israeli forces have also carried out what it describes as “targeted strikes” on the eastern part of Rafah and captured the Rafah crossing, a critical conduit for the flow of humanitarian aid along the Gaza-Egypt border.

Privately, concern has mounted inside the White House about what’s unfolding in Rafah, but publicly administration officials have stressed that they did not think the operations had defied Biden’s warnings against a widescale operation in the city.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Israel described the operation along the Gaza-Egypt border in eastern Rafah as “an operation of limited scale and duration” aimed at cutting off Hamas arms smuggling, but also said the U.S. would monitor the fighting.

Just last month, Congress passed a $95 billion national security bill that included funding for Ukraine, Israel and other allies. The package included more than $14 billion in military aid for Israel, though the stalled transfer was not related to that measure.

The State Department is separately considering whether to approve the continued transfer of Joint Direct Attack Munition kits, which place precision guidance systems onto bombs, to Israel, but the review didn’t pertain to imminent shipments.

The U.S. dropped the 2,000-pound bomb sparingly in its long war against the Islamic State militant group. Israel, by contrast, has used the bomb frequently in the seven-month Gaza war. Experts say the use of the weapon, in part, has helped drive the enormous Palestinian casualty count that the Hamas-run Health Ministry puts at more than 34,000 dead, though it doesn’t distinguish between militants and civilians.

The U.S.-Israel relationship has been close through both Democratic and Republican administrations. But there have been other moments of deep tension since the founding in which U.S. leaders have threatened to hold up aid in attempt to sway Israeli leadership.

President Dwight Eisenhower pressured Israel with the threat of sanctions into withdrawing from the Sinai in 1957 in the midst of the Suez Crisis. Ronald Reagan delayed the delivery of F16 fighter jets to Israel at a time of escalating violence in the Middle East. President George H.W. Bush held up $10 billion in loan guarantees to force the cessation of Israeli settlement activity in the occupied territories.