As Israel's offensive into the Gaza Strip continued into a second week, international efforts to secure a ceasefire intensified. More than 600 Palestinians and nine Israelis have been killed. Although many yearn for an end to the violence, few expect it to happen soon. Citizens on both sides of the border express their opinions, fears and hopes for a future that has never looked so uncertain.
VOICES FROM GAZA
Saber Abu Reesh, 40, from the Maghazi neighborhood of Gaza, whose brother was killed last week in an Israeli air strike:
I can't forget the death of my brother but in order to stop more killing and bloodshed I would agree to reach a fair and lasting peace. The Palestinian Authority must do all it can to stop this war. We are human beings. We don't like killing and we want peace, but this peace must achieve our goals to live in dignity and respect.
I was at home when I heard that Israel had begun bombing the Gaza Strip. I was afraid that something had happened to my brother, Osama, so I tried to call his mobile but he didn't answer. I later found him dead in [a] hospital. My brother was married with 10 children. He didn't belong to Hamas; he was just trying to look after his family. My brother is a victim of this crazy bombing in Gaza. Civilians are always victims and they pay the price of wars. What will we say to his sons when they grow up?
Etemad Abu Tahoon, 35, fled from Gaza City with her three daughters
when she heard that Israel was about to launch a ground incursion:
I threw some clothes into a bag and hurried with my girls to Nusserat, where my father lives, but we still don't feel safe. Before we left, we spent the whole night in the basement with our neighbors. The shelling continued all night and my children cry constantly.
Abed al Fatah Ahmed, 52, Gaza City:
I voted Hamas hoping to change our bad situation and to get rid of corruption, but nothing changed and our lives have become miserable. I'm so scared that any time crossfire may hit the windows and kill one of my children. This is not my battle, and I don't want to pay the price. The Israeli troops didn't reach my home yet, but they may.
Abu Ahmed, 55:
My family and I voted Hamas, and we will defend Hamas by all means … Why should we feel fear? … We don't have weapons to resist but we have the weapons to pray to God to support the resistance. We follow the news on a small radio, and we cheered when we heard that an Israeli soldier may have been kidnapped.
Abed Rahman Obeid, Jabaliya, lost a leg in clashes in 2008:
When the ground operation started, we moved to the basement, my whole family. I'm afraid of shooting from both sides. I'm terrified of repeating the bad experience I had before. For the past three days we've hardly had any food or water.
Ghada Alkhord, 23, lives very close to the Israeli border, fled from the house with her family at the beginning of the Israeli incursion:
It feels like I'm repeating the bad experience of my grandfathers when they left their villages in 1948. My eyes were full of tears when I left my house behind for the Israeli and the Palestinian fighters. Now I want to return home even though we don't have enough food, water and electricity. I want to die there.
VOICES FROM ISRAEL
Tziona Peleg, 47, aunt of Irit Shitrit, killed by a missile on Ashdod last week:
In my work as a hospital nurse, I come into daily contact with Arabs, both patients and staff, and I have excellent relations with them. Of course a peace agreement is possible, I've always thought so. These people are my friends and my colleagues. Despite the fact that Irit is dead, I still say that there is a real possibility to reach a solution. But these are not the people who killed my niece. It's the extremists who killed my niece, and they will stop at nothing right now. There are extremists on both sides and, as terrible as it sounds, maybe it should be the extremists that we talk to. Otherwise, where is the end to this bloodshed?
David Ben-Or, 42, owner of Aroma Coffee Bar at the Sea Mall in Ashdod:
Two years ago we were close to a peace deal with Abu Mazen, and I actually began to believe that a peace agreement was possible, that there would be recognized borders for a Palestinian state and each side would live its own life without friction. Today, that just doesn't seem possible. Today, Hamas isn't fighting for the Palestinian people; Hamas is fighting for an ideology, and they have no interest in the sanctity of human life on either side. I think that a two-state solution was, back then, the ideal solution. Today, this solution doesn't seem possible, not while Hamas remains in power.
Ortal Suissa, 21, works in a clothes store in downtown Ashdod:
A friend of mine was badly injured in a rocket attack three weeks ago and, for me, this was a wake-up call. I was shocked that it touched my personal life so directly. I served in the Israeli Army on the border with Gaza and I knew the Palestinians in Gaza had the capability of sending rockets deep into Israel, but never thought they would use it. I'm the kind of person who thought a solution was reachable, one way or another. I've lived in Ashdod all my life, and I've heard talk of peace come and go, but nothing has ever been finalized. I don't know if an agreement can be reached while Hamas is in control of Gaza.
Ben Frankel, 25, law student at Tel Aviv University:
The majority of the Israeli public supports the operation in Gaza 100 percent. Israelis who speak against it at demonstrations are effectively showing their support for Hamas. We've got to let the [Israeli] Army do what it has to do.
Ari Levy, 45, Tel Aviv, entrepreneur:
I've taken part in numerous demonstrations against Israel's badly formulated policies. Even if it doesn't help, I find it increasingly impossible to sit back and do nothing. We need to change people's minds on both sides, and until this happens there will be no lasting solution. I am ashamed to be an Israeli because so many people are being killed just to prove that Israel is strong. It wouldn't do any good, won't stop the Hamas missiles coming into Israel and won't win anyone more votes in the next elections. My own people have hatred in their eyes.
David Davidovitz, 48, self-employed, Jerusalem:
Hamas must be stamped out. Forget about a ceasefire, forget about peace agreements. Hamas should be annihilated. We can't let it continue that people can't sleep in their own beds at night for fear of being killed by rockets. It's affecting everyone, we're all sad and depressed that our young soldiers are being dragged into death traps because of the mistaken policies of all sides.
VOICES FROM EAST JERUSALEM
George Khoury, 40, security guard, East Jerusalem:
People everywhere are worried after seeing children and families blown up in Gaza. The Israelis are acting not just against Hamas but against Palestinians in general. Here in Jerusalem, life goes on despite everything. Israel wants us to shut down, to hide away but we'll keep moving, we'll keep going no matter what happens.
Nasser Dakaki, 47, owner of a pizzeria in East Jerusalem:
Israel is carrying out a criminal act as the world watches. What do children have to do with this? Israel is trying to force its own one-sided version of peace on us. I'm not pro-Hamas. but I support my brothers in Gaza.
VOICES FROM THE WEST BANK
Nada Kiswani, 20, radiology student at Al-Quds University in the West Bank:
I don't know anyone personally in Gaza, but I feel like the people in Gaza are my family and that they've been abandoned by the rest of the Arab world. Why don't Arab leaders stand up and protest this? The Palestinian people badly need the support of Arab leaders in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. One hand can't clap on its own.
Mohammed Hani,
45,
vegetable seller, A-Ram, near Jerusalem:
Ever since the troubles began in Gaza, sales have plummeted. People are demoralized and frustrated by what's happening and also afraid it might spread to the West Bank. I have four children, and I'm terrified when I see what's happening in Gaza. Most of my customers are people on their way to work in Jerusalem, but now they've disappeared, afraid to go to work. Fear is in the air. Despite everything, I believe that peace can still be achieved, even with the enemy.
—As told to Joanna Chen and Hasan Jaber