Gaza residents fear new war
Civilians queue at bakeries and stock up on food in fear of a new war with Israel.
![PALESTINIANS-ISRAEL/GAZA A Palestinian man gestures as he inspects the scene of an Israeli air strike in Rafah in the southern of Gaza Strip March 14, 2014. A small armed faction in the Gaza Strip fired rockets at Israel on Thursday, drawing retaliatory air strikes and pushing cross-border violence into a third day despite a truce called by the more powerful Palestinian group Islamic Jihad. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3H1MY](/sites/default/files/styles/article_hero_medium/public/almpics/2014/03/RTR3H1MY.jpg/RTR3H1MY.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=OuUY7Y4t)
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The sound of thunder mixed with that of Israeli bombing on March 11. Gazans could no longer tell when the sky was exploding and when a bomb was exploding.
Social networking sites were filled with posts combining the fear of a new war with the joy of rain, following a military escalation between Israel and the Palestinian resistance factions. The escalation began on March 11, after an Israeli airstrike assassinated three members of the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, in the southern Gaza Strip. The Al-Quds Brigades responded by launching an operation they called "Breaking the Silence" on the evening of March 12, during which they fired 130 rockets and shells at Israeli cities.