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France 24
France 24
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François PICARD

Israel on the warpath: What fate for Gaza after Hamas attack?

What fate for Gaza © France24

It's payback time. After the unspeakable horrors perpetrated by Hamas, Israel is now in battle formation. What does revenge look like? Amid the mobilisation, the air raids, with the Gaza Strip blockaded and out of water and electricity, where do civilians go?

Meanwhile, the US Secretary of State has flown in to display support for Israel but also to negotiate a humanitarian corridor. But will that open a way out for desperate Palestinians? Gaza's only other land border is with Egypt, which wants no part of a large influx of refugees. 

Antony Blinken is in the Middle East for what's perhaps the second death of the two-state solution. With its surprise attack, Hamas clearly prefers war. In the build-up, Israel's prime minister chose to work with far-right coalition partners from the settler community whose focus was imposing their might on the West Bank. Looking ahead, what will hardliners – on both sides – gain from a Gaza Strip potentially reduced to rubble?

Read moreShock Hamas terror attack: The beginning of the end for Israel’s Netanyahu?

Egypt's foreign ministry says it has not officially closed its main Rafah border crossing with Gaza, but that Israeli air strikes have prevented it from operating. There's been talk of aid and fuel going through, but Cairo has pushed back against proposals to establish corridors out of Gaza, saying an exodus of Palestinians from the enclave would have grave consequences for the Palestinian cause.

Could the current conflict also trigger a second exodus of Palestinians? Now that Israel's opposition has joined what's being called an emergency government, it's all about the war effort. Will it also signal a steering away from the radical right?

Produced by Charles Wente, Lila Paulou and Louise Guibert

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