A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Now we take a look at Gaza, where the health ministry there says the number of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks surpassed 56,000 people, a third of them children. Despite the bloodshed, Gaza's war has fallen out of view in recent days, overshadowed by Israel's war with Iran. NPR's Aya Batrawy in Dubai and Anas Baba in Gaza have more on what people there are saying.
AYA BATRAWY, BYLINE: It took just 12 days from the start of Israel's surprise attack on Iran for the war between the two to be called off, with a ceasefire announced by President Trump this week.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).
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BATRAWY: But it's now Day 627 of Israel's war in Gaza, and there are no signs of it winding down or ending. In only the past 24 hours, seven Israeli soldiers were killed, and Gaza's Health Ministry says more than 90 Palestinians were killed, a third of them shot dead by Israeli forces trying to get food amid severe Israeli restrictions on aid in the territory. Israel's military says it's reviewing some of those shootings.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).
BATRAWY: On the ruined, bombed-out streets of Gaza, people have lost hope.
KHALIL AL-NAJJAR: (Non-English language spoken).
BATRAWY: Khalil al-Najjar (ph) says upon hearing of a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, he said it felt like people in Gaza aren't seen as human, that there's no humanity in the world. He says Gaza has been forgotten and forsaken.
AL-NAJJAR: (Non-English language spoken).
BATRAWY: That sentiment was echoed by Akram Tabash (ph), who's out of work and going hungry. U.N.-backed experts on hunger say Gaza is at risk of famine. He says Iran, which supports Hamas, turned its back on the group when it clinched a ceasefire deal with Israel without conditions that the war in Gaza also end.
AKRAM TABASH: (Non-English language spoken).
BATRAWY: He says he expects Israel's military to strike Gaza even harder now and issue more sweeping evacuation orders. The U.N. says more than 80% of Gaza is inaccessible to Palestinians or under displacement order by Israel's military.
TABASH: (Non-English language spoken).
BATRAWY: Families of Israeli hostages captured by Hamas in its 2023 attack on Israel say now is the time for a deal that brings them all home and ends the war, saying the government should seize this critical moment. But Israel's far-right government has shown no willingness to permanently end the war. It says Gaza must first be disarmed and Hamas defeated, an elusive and broad war aim that's kept a ceasefire out of reach.
Aya Batrawy, NPR News, Dubai, with Anas Baba in Gaza.
(SOUNDBITE OF CAMILO BRANCA'S "DER ZITRONENBAUM") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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