While the war in Iran gets attention, what’s happening in Gaza?

0:01The world's biggest story keeps getting bigger. This week on Up First, we're tracking the escalating war in Iran, rising oil prices, and a global economy on edge. As the conflict spills beyond Iran, our host Leila Fadal is on the ground in Iraq. Listen each morning for three stories you need to start your day on Up First, on the NPR app, or wherever you get your podcasts. Today on State of the World, while the war in Iran gets attention, what's happening in Gaza? You're listening to State of the World from NPR. We bring you the day's most vital international stories, up close, where they're happening.

0:40It's Thursday, March 12th. I'm Greg Dixon. Five months ago, President Trump declared a ceasefire in Gaza. The deal he negotiated involved a phased Israeli withdrawal and Hamas disarmament. But that was before the U.S. and Israel launched a war in Iran, which has taken away the Trump administration's attention. With help from Anas Baba in Gaza, NPR's Ayah Batraoui tells us that the Palestinian territory continues to be cut off from the outside world and gains towards a durable peace have been paused or reversed. Bombed-out mosques in Gaza City are packed with worshippers standing amid mounds of rubble, praying in these final nights of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

1:25The mood is uneasy. A key border crossing with Egypt had finally opened last month, allowing some people to return to Gaza and some wounded to leave. The opening of Rafah crossing was a sign of progress in Trump's ceasefire plan. But after Israel and the U.S. launched war on Iran, Israel closed all of Gaza's borders. Under U.S. pressure, it reopened one crossing for the limited entry of food and fuel to keep hospitals running. Rakan Al-Hurani, a 26-year-old resident of Gaza, says they're feeling the knock-on effects of the war in Iran. He says it's not a ceasefire if the Rafah crossing is closed.

2:08He says people should be able to go and come, to be free from this prison we're in. Israeli forces still occupy more than half of Gaza. Artillery in gunfire is heard day and night. Israel says it continues to target Hamas, but hundreds of civilians have also been killed in the ceasefire. NPR's reporter in Gaza, Anas Baba, says people are feeling squeezed. Prices are high, money is tight, and safety remains fragile. The sky is never quiet. Drones hum constantly. Helicopters battle, and since the Iran-USA war began, we have seen Iranian missiles pass through our atmosphere towards Tel Aviv. But it was just three weeks ago that President Trump presided over the first meeting of his newly formed Board of Peace.

2:53Several billion dollars in pledges were made toward Gaza's reconstruction. And five countries said they would join an international stabilization force in Gaza. Today, the world's focus is on the Iran war and its spillover across the region. Negotiations on the crucial next steps of Gaza's ceasefire plan, like Hamas disarming and Israel withdrawing, are suspended. Now everything's frozen. Gaza's a disaster, and no one's paying attention to it. That's Gershon Baskin, a veteran Israeli hostage negotiator and peace activist. He says the Gaza executive board that's supposed to report to Trump's Board of Peace and includes the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and special envoy Steve Whitcoff have not held a single meeting yet.

3:34The two men were in charge of nuclear talks with Iran just before the war. Baskin says he wrote a letter to Whitcoff this week expressing his concern about what could happen if progress stalls in Gaza. The Israelis will say Hamas has based itself, Hamas has rearmed, Hamas is stronger now. We need a green light from Washington to finish off Hamas. And this is my biggest fear, that because nothing is happening in Gaza and there's a vacuum of power, that the Americans will give a green light to Israel to finish off Hamas, to restart the war. Influential members of Israel's far-right governing coalition have spoken out against Trump's peace plan and want to finish off Hamas militarily.

4:17For now, Israel's military says approximately 200 trucks are entering Gaza daily through one crossing. That's a fraction of what the UN says is needed. In Gaza, 23-year-old Mohammed al-Baghdadi says the ceasefire, if it can be called that, has just put life on hold without any real breakthrough.

4:40And he says that while the situation is better than before, the ceasefires simply put Gaza on a back burner. Ayah Batrawi, NPR News, Dubai, with Anas Baba in Gaza City.

4:55That's the State of the World from NPR. Thanks for listening.