GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Students took cover in classrooms, motorists exchanged warnings about no-go zones, and families fled beachside apartments as intensifying factional fighting brought life to a standstill in much of Gaza yesterday.

At least five people were killed in clashes. Eighteen were wounded, including five children caught up in the civil warfare.

The street battles sent 13-year-old Jamal Khalifa scrambling to take cover at a gas station in Gaza City’s Sheik Radwan neighborhood where two members of the Palestinian Arab security forces were killed.

“Bullets were flying in all directions while I was leaving the school, and I saw a child falling down,” the shaken boy said. “We are scared to death. There are gunmen shooting in all directions.”

In another neighborhood, schoolgirls walked behind a truck for cover as gunmen exchanged fire nearby.

Life in Gaza City has largely come to a halt in the past few days, particularly in the beachside Rimal neighborhood where President Abbas’s office, residence, and many Hamas-run ministries are located.

Residents of Rimal high-rises fled their apartments in recent days for fear of getting hit by stray bullets. Others wait for police escorts or a lull in fighting to move in and out of the neighborhood. Shops close early, and by nightfall, streets are deserted.

Motorists passing each other in the streets flash their headlights or shout warnings to signal to oncoming cars when it is unsafe to proceed. Friends send text messages to warn about unsafe areas.

Schools and Gaza City’s three universities were to close today because of the fighting.

“It’s a real war. Since the morning, I’ve been praying to God that this is going to end,” said Suleiman Tuman, a 53-year-old shopkeeper who was trapped in his Gaza City grocery store by the fighting.