Many Israelis are frantically looking for clues about loved ones believed to be held in Gaza. Ido Dan keeps watching a video that appears to show Hamas militants kidnapping his 12-year-old nephew.
With high poverty and unemployment and severe restrictions on movement, life in the Gaza Strip was already difficult before Israel's retaliatory offensive began this week in response to Hamas attacks.
At a highway rest stop near where Hamas gunmen killed Israelis and took hostages, Israeli volunteers are helping rescue civilians and support soldiers who are being dispatched to the front lines.
The Israeli military said it has largely regained control of areas in the south that had been attacked by militants from Hamas. The announcement came on the fourth day of war with Hamas.
Militants in the Gaza Strip fired rockets toward Israel and Israeli warplanes bombed Hamas sites in Gaza a day after the deadliest Israeli raid in the West Bank in years.
Most Gazans support resistance against Israel and Hamas and Islamic Jihad still do have a following, though some Gazans are frustrated with the groups. Analysts see a rift forming between them.
A Palestinian gunman opened fire at a bus near Jerusalem's Old City early Sunday, wounding eight Israelis in an attack that came a week after violence flared up between Israel and militants in Gaza.
Israeli airstrikes flattened homes in Gaza and rocket barrages into southern Israel persisted, raising fears of an escalation in a conflict that has killed at least 24 people in Gaza.