Civilians pay the price during worst Israel-Hamas fighting since 2014

Residents in Gaza and Israel told ABC News of the fear and uncertainty during the worst violence in the Israel-Palestine conflict in years.

Even the moments of quiet in Gaza City come with their own psychological toll. "They're so precious," Najla, who did not provide her surname for safety reasons, a Palestinian humanitarian worker in the city, told ABC News. "But at the same time, they're so frightening because ... preparing yourself for the next attack is as horrible psychologically as it is experiencing it in itself. Every minute there are continuous airstrikes and explosions all across the Gaza Strip and several of them were close by." Tensions over the prospective eviction of six Palestinian families in East Jerusalem dramatically escalated last weekend, with clashes between police and protesters at al-Aqsa mosque, the third holiest site in Islam. This prompted a rocket assault from Hamas into Israel on Monday. In turn, Israel responded with airstrikes of its own, and the two sides have continued to trade assaults since. Hamas has fired more than 1,600 rockets into Israel this week at both civilian and military targets, the Israeli military has said, killing nine and injuring 524.