Iran’s attack on Israel tested the country’s air defences, but repaired – at least temporarily – Tel Aviv’s fractured relationship with Washington, and pushed the war and the looming famine in Gaza out of the headlines and down the diplomatic agenda.

“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, who is now living in a tent in Rafah with his five children.

The unprecedented attack by Iran over the weekend, in response to an Israeli strike on a diplomatic compound in Damascus, in effect forced the US and other allies to set aside differences and rally around Israel.

The White House national security spokesperson, John Kirby, said in an interview on Monday that the US was still committed to getting more aid to civilians in the territory.

That was far higher than UN figures for the period, and – even if correct – is still barely half the 500 trucks a day that Israel and the UN have said are needed to ease the looming famine in Gaza.

There are also rising concerns that with the world focused on threats from Iran, Israel may follow through on a pledge to send troops into Rafah, the city at Gaza’s southern edge that is the only place in the strip which has not seen intense fighting.

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