The scenes of devastation in Gaza are likely to make it difficult for Israel to win its biggest diplomatic prize: recognition from Saudi Arabia.
However, other wealthy Gulf countries that established bilateral relations with Israel last year have so far shown no signs of reconsidering that decision.
Arab officials have unanimously condemned Israel's actions in the past two weeks, but the reaction of the countries that signed the so-called Abraham Accords on the establishment of relations with Israel last year with the mediation of the US is noticeably mild.
The agreements signed with Israel by the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan were hailed by many as diplomatic progress in Israeli-Arab relations. Although the agreements express the need to continue "efforts aimed at achieving a just, comprehensive and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict", most analysts believe that they are just one more step towards abandoning the goal of Palestinian statehood through the normalization of relations with Israel without resolving the Palestinian issue. Due to the lack of progress and realistic hope for the realization of a Palestinian state, relations with Israel have become more urgent for many Gulf monarchies than the Palestinian issue.
Accordingly, the criticism that the United Arab Emirates directs at Israel these days is often balanced by harsh words addressed to the other party. In some cases, the UAE takes over Israel's rhetoric in criticizing Hamas.
"Hamas launches rockets from civilian neighborhoods and when the answer comes Hamas asks "where are the Arabs and Muslims". You have turned Gaza into a graveyard for innocents and children," he tweeted Vasim Yusuf, a Muslim preacher in the UAE who has over 1,6 million followers.
In this country where social media is controlled by the government, Munter al-Shehi tweeted: "I will not stand or sympathize with any terrorist group like Hamas, nor support their goals even when they are packaged as humanitarian or religious. No to terrorism".
The hashtag "#Palestine is not my goal" is circulating on social networks in some Gulf countries.
So far, such a narrative has not taken root in Saudi Arabia. The Gulf's largest, wealthiest and most nautical monarchy is believed to have given its tacit blessing to neighbors Bahrain and the UAE to establish relations with Israel last year. However, the Saudis have not recognized Israel, and now there is even less chance that they will do so at least in the near future.
Many Saudis responded to the hashtag "Palestine is not my goal" by posting pictures of the king Salman and his statements: "The Palestinian cause is our primary objective."
On May 13, Saudi television broadcast a video of a cleric in Mecca praying for Palestinian victory against the "enemies of God," less than a year after the kingdom's leading imam discouraged anti-Jewish rhetoric following the signing of the Abraham Accords.
"Now it is unthinkable that the Saudi leadership is even thinking about normalizing relations with Israel for at least a few more years," said the professor. Neil Kuilam from the British organization Chatham House.
The Palestinians rejected last year's decisions by the UAE and Bahrain, and later by Sudan and Morocco, to recognize Israel as abandoning the unique position according to which the Arab states will be at peace with Israel only if it surrenders the occupied land.
The UAE and Bahrain have argued that their deals will ultimately benefit the Palestinians, including because Israel has promised to abandon plans to annex the West Bank.
Abdulrahman al-Tawajri, the 29-year-old Saudi said that the countries that made the agreements "should reconsider" their decisions because Israel "cannot be trusted to honor its promises."
"Strength is in unity, so if Arab and Muslim countries unite, the conflict will end." It would have ended a long time ago if it had happened earlier," he told Reuters.
The British agency points out that the Emirates and other countries have probably invested too much in politics to suddenly change direction now.
The Abraham Accords boosted tourism, investment and cooperation in fields from energy to technology. A UAE investment fund plans to buy a stake in an Israeli gas field, and a Dubai company is participating in a tender for the Port of Haifa.
"Abraham's agreement is an irreversible process," said the analyst Abdulkalek Abdullah. "It is clearly aligned with the national priorities and strategic interests of the UAE and therefore there is no going back".
Meanwhile, Iran and Turkey, which strongly criticized the Abraham Accords as a "stab in the back" of all Muslims and a "betrayal" of the Muslim world, reacted strongly to the escalation of violence in the Middle East.
The leaders of these countries condemned Israel's actions in words that many residents of the Bis East would like to hear from their leaders. Once again, the Palestinian issue has become a tool through which the regional powers try to gain legitimacy, he writes for the "Konversajshn" portal. Simon Mabon, professor of international relations at the University of Lancaster. Meanwhile, he concludes, ordinary Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem continue to pay the ultimate price.
The Biden administration approved the sale of weapons to Israel worth 735 million
US President Joe Biden's administration has approved the sale of precision-guided weapons to Israel worth $735 million, sources told Reuters yesterday, adding that they do not expect US lawmakers to question the deal despite violence between Israel and Palestinian militants.
Three sources confirmed to the British agency that Congress was officially notified of the planned sale on May 5, as part of the regular process before approving any foreign arms deal.
At the time Congress was notified of the sale, none of the Democratic or Republican leaders raised objections, the sources said.
Asked by Reuters about Israel's pipeline sales, a State Department spokesman said they were restricted by law from commenting on details of activity related to direct commercial contracts.
"We remain deeply concerned about the violence and are working to establish sustainable peace," the spokesman said.
Strong support for Israel is a core value for both Democratic and Republican members of Congress, despite calls from a few of the most progressive Democrats to take a tougher line against Benjamin Netanyahu's government.
Under US law, Congress has the right to object to gun sales, but that is unlikely to happen in this case. Since Israel is among the few countries with which military contracts are approved under an expedited procedure, the window for objection would close before lawmakers, even if they wanted to, could pass a resolution of disapproval.
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