Just how much living in a continual war zone has become part and parcel of the life of Gaza's residents was evident when the rest of the household not only slept through the massive bombing, but after waking up expressed little interest in what exactly had happened.

This correspondent spent five days in Gaza, living in al-Bureij refugee camp in the center of the Gaza Strip, visiting hospitals and refugee camps. It was evident that the daily life of Gazans was grinding to a halt as economic deprivation, spiking poverty, unemployment and despair, induced by the Israeli siege and the international boycott of the territory, paralyzed normalcy.

The huge explosion hours earlier, which was heard as far away as Gaza city, 20 miles to the north, turned out to be a car bombing carried out by Hamas fighters at the Kerem Shalom terminal and border crossing in the south of Gaza.

The fighters had managed to penetrate Israel's formidable security under heavy fog, detonate the car packed with explosives and injure 13 Israeli soldiers in the gunfight which broke out shortly afterwards.

Following in hot pursuit, Israeli soldiers killed three of the gunmen. Shortly afterwards an Israeli tank opened fire on another explosives-laden vehicle in the area of Kibbutz Nirim, near the Kissufim area, killing several more Palestinians.

The Kerem Shalom attack followed another audacious attack 10 days earlier in which four members of Islamic Jihad managed to infiltrate the Nahal Oz terminal in the north of the Gaza Strip and kill two Israelis working at the border crossing which transfers fuel to Gaza.

The logic behind the attacks was open to question as both the Nahal Oz and Kerem Shalom crossings are used to transfer desperately needed aid and fuel to the Palestinian territory and following each attack the Israeli authorities close the crossing for several days.

But they followed hot on the heels of warnings by the Hamas leadership that these military operations would precede a series of attacks to forcibly reverse the siege of Gaza similar to the blowing up of the border wall between Egypt and Gaza earlier in the year.

Although Hamas is not capable of militarily forcing an end to the Israeli siege, analysts say it is trying to provoke a confrontation that would draw the attention of the international community.

Israel has exacerbated the volatile atmosphere and aggravated the frustration by withholding most essential aid from entering Gaza, only periodically allowing in a trickle following bouts of heavy international pressure from a world community alarmed at the deteriorating humanitarian situation there.

Gaza's once bustling streets were virtually empty as only a few cars were able to access the dwindling supplies of gasoline. The few that were moving were jam-packed with passengers as pedestrians lined street corners desperately trying to get a ride to and from work or to attend other everyday appointments.

Long lines of cars were parked for several days outside gas stations waiting for the next meager amount to be delivered in coordination with the Israelis.

At Gaza's Shifa Hospital the mood was grim. Israel has reduced the supply of electricity to a minimum so the hospital's generators which operate essential machinery such as incubators and kidney dialysis machines are forced to rely on the dwindling amounts of fuel the hospital has left.

The Israeli authorities have also interrupted supplies of other medical basics including bandages and face masks, while supplies of anesthetics ran out last week forcing the cancellation of surgery for a day.

And the number of civilians, including the high proportion of children, who fall victim to Israel's punishing almost daily raids, continue to increase in number filling the hospitals wards. Israel says it only attacks military targets, but the high civilian casualty rate has caused international human rights organizations to question these repeated so-called accidents.

This reporter visited the site where a Reuters photo-journalist and several Palestinian children were killed recently by an Israeli tank shell filled with flechettes.

Eye-witnesses said the Israelis were shelling and shooting at Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters, who were hundreds of yards away from the cameraman, when the turret of the tank swung around suddenly and fired the fatal shell which killed 23-year-old Fadel Shana.

Human Rights Watch called for a full Israeli investigation and stated that it was either a deliberate attack or an extremely careless mistake. Shana is one of nine journalists killed by the Israelis during the second Intifada.

The family of a British journalist, James Miller, who was killed by Israeli soldiers in Gaza in 2003, was recently awarded financial compensation by Israel after a lengthy legal process during which the British government threatened to take legal action against the Israeli soldiers involved.

The soldiers originally claimed that Miller had accidentally been shot during fighting but later withdrew the claim after eye-witnesses reported no fighting had taken place when the Briton was shot dead.

An Israeli spokesman expressed regret at the death of Shana and stated that journalists endanger themselves when they work in a war zone.

And while an atmosphere of apathy and depression permeates the quiet streets of Gaza, the nightly confrontations between Palestinian gunmen and the Israeli military coupled with bellicose statements from their leaderships and talk of an imminent massive Israeli ground invasion, provide a menacing contrast.