The Gaza war was the spark that touched off years of conflict in the Middle East that culminated in the US-Israeli war with Iran, but while Washington and Tehran are at loggerheads over peace, the fate of the devastated region seems largely a no-brainer.
“Since the United States went to war with Iran, the whole world has forgotten Gaza and its disaster. We no longer have anyone standing by us,” Palestinian Ahmed Jamali, 53, told Agence France-Presse from the refugee camp in Gaza where he lives.
“We are weak and oppressed, and Israel is doing whatever it wants: killing, destroying and occupying Gaza, while no one in the world raises a finger.”
The indifference given to the land of Palestine is all the more surprising because it is the center of a chain of events that plunged the region into its most dangerous confrontation in decades.
Hamas’s extraordinary October 7, 2023 attack on Israel sparked a devastating military response in Gaza, drawing in Tehran-backed allies such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi rebels — and ultimately Iran itself.
What started as a civil war between Israel and Hamas turned into a regional conflict and, in turn, a direct confrontation between arch-enemies Tehran and Washington.
