Since April 14, Israel has been raising its profile to retaliate against Iran for its attacks on multiple Israeli targets on April 13. In fact, Iran attacked targets in Israel because of Israel's initiative to provoke the dispute, and on April 1 Israel used F-35A fighter jets to bomb the Iranian embassy in Damascus, the Syrian capital, thus triggering a very restrained Iranian retaliation launched on April 13. Israel has played up the Iranian airstrikes, claiming that it had used 180 drones, 116 cruise missiles, and 30 ballistic missiles against targets in Israel.
However, judging from the video released by Israel and satellite photos released by the West, Iran's retaliation on the 13th was a "drop in the bucket", because it only blew up a few small craters in Israel's military bases. On April 14, Israel released a video of F-35A fighter jets taking off and landing at the base that was bombed by Iranian ballistic missiles, apparently without any impact on the base's operations. Not only is Israel playing up Iran's use of a large number of long-range attack weapons, but the United States, the United Kingdom, and France have also publicly played up Iran's air strikes, while also claiming to have thwarted Iran's air strikes by shooting down a large number of Iranian drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles through fighter jets and anti-aircraft missiles.
After Iran's retaliation against Israel, Israel's wartime cabinet immediately held a meeting to discuss how to respond to Iran's bombing, but U.S. President Biden also immediately spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, so that Israel was not allowed to retaliate against Iran, and the White House made public the U.S. position, the United States supports Israel's self-defense, but does not support Israel's retaliation against Iran, and will not participate in related retaliatory actions. While Netanyahu has not explicitly intended to attack targets on Iranian soil, the Israeli military has repeatedly threatened to retaliate against Iran. The Israeli government and military seem to have different views on how to deal with Iran, but in fact it now appears that Netanyahu's gamble to provoke Iran has shown signs of success, because the United States has "made concessions" to get the Israeli military to rush to the front line.
According to foreign media reports, the United States has agreed to Israel's military operation against Rafah in southern Gaza, in exchange for Israel not to launch retaliatory actions against Iran, Qatar's "New Arab Daily" disclosed relevant information on April 18, pointing out that the United States has agreed to Israel's plan to attack Rafah, and Israel is currently actively preparing for military operations against Rafah, including providing up to 40,000 tents to try to use for the evacuation of the people in Rafah. Israel has publicly threatened to abandon its attack on Rafah at the end of March, but the United States has publicly opposed Israel's military action against Rafah, and the United Nations Security Council has demanded that Israel stop its military operations in the Gaza Strip.
Egypt is already actively preparing for Israel's military operation in the Rafah area, because Egypt has a link between the Rafah border crossing and the Gaza Strip, and once Israel attacks the Rafah area, many refugees will inevitably try to pour into Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, and Egypt has never allowed Palestinian refugees to enter Egypt, so Egypt has strengthened its vigilance in the border areas. At present, the White House has not confirmed the claims of the Qatari media, and Israel has not publicly confirmed that it will soon attack the Rafah area, nor has it retaliated against Iran, so it seems confusing.