Stocks got slammed on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending the day down 1.87%, at 317 points in the red. The drop wiped out all the benchmark average’s gains for 2014, and put an end to a five-month winning streak for stocks. This was the Dow's largest point drop of the year since February 3; percentage-wise, it's the worst plunge since April 10. At 16,563, the index is well below the all-time closing high of 17,138 hit just a couple of weeks ago.

Additionally on Thursday, the S&P 500 saw a 1.89% drop to end at 1,932, and the Nasdaq fell 1.98%, ending at 4,374.74.

In the attached video, Yahoo Finance editor Phil Pearlman says those looking for answers are going to be disappointed. “Over the last 25 years, stocks have their worst month in August. This is the worst time of the year, and we’re getting a preview of that on the last day of July."

The selling was triggered by a variety of factors. To add to the long-standing laundry list of troubles in Ukraine and violence in the Middle East, Argentina failed to reach a deal with bondholders and defaulted late Wednesday. Argentina’s benchmark Mervel index dropped more than 6.5%. The employment cost index also posted its fastest rise since 2008, stoking fears of inflation and chatter of an earlier-than-expected Fed rate hike.

Though the selling was intense, there was little evidence of the panic that typically marks the end of selloffs. After years of being rewarded for buying every dip, investors are conditioned to treat corrections as buying opportunities, though little buying was apparent as of the close.

So is this the correction investors have been waiting for?

"I have no idea; my best guess is that [it is]" says Pearlman. But if we get a 4%-5% pullback, he continues, the resulting "panic" could lead to a bottom, which will provide an attractive entry point for some investors with cash ready to put into the market.

Says Yahoo Finance's Jeff Macke, "If you're too nervous to sleep tonight, you're too long stocks... . Trim a little gains if ... you're already nervous. If not, ride it out. This is the way markets are supposed to behave."

Stock market plunges more than 300 points

The drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average wiped out all of the index's gains for the year.
Variety of factors

Yet for many Gaza residents, there are few secure places left to seek shelter. In fact, many don't have the slightest chance of exiting the enclave.

Here's why:

OVER LAND

The only legal ways in and out of Gaza are through its official border crossings with Israel and Egypt. Gaza has little control over those crossings, and both of its neighbors have severely restricted the movement of people and goods across the borders because of security concerns.

Israel controls the Erez border crossing in Gaza's north. Since Hamas was voted into power in Gaza in 2006, Israel only grants Gaza residents permission to cross incertain circumstances, usually for humanitarian reasons such as medical treatment. At the start of the current round of fighting, Israeli authorities did permit hundreds ofGazans holding foreign passports to leave the strip through the Erez crossing.

While Hamas has no control over who will eventually be allowed into Israel, it canturn away those approaching the border from inside Gaza, as it did on several occasions this month. On July 15, the group closed the border "because of constant Israeli shelling," though there were no reports of shelling at the time. Palestinians trying to cross for medical treatment were left stranded.

The Kerem Shalom crossing, the main point of entry and exit for goods on the Israeli border, is also controlled by Israeli authorities. They limit what can be brought in and out of Gaza and prevent the import of goods they say can be used to build weapons or tunnels. This includes cement and steel, which are crucial elements needed for the construction of roads and houses. Israel also bars virtually all exports from Gaza.

The Rafah crossing connects Gaza with Egypt. Since the ouster of Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, the new government has typically kept the crossing closed for goods as well as people. Even when the border is open, the right to pass isrestricted to certain groups, such as medical patients and residents with foreign passports. "Even for those, there’s a waiting list of 15,000 people, according to Hamas border authorities," the Associated Press notes.

UNDER LAND

Gazans have created tunnels under both the Israeli and Egyptian borders that are used by militants and by smugglers who bring in goods from across the border. The tunnels on the Israeli side are currently one of the main targets of the Israeli army, as militants have used them to stage deadly attacks inside Israel.

Egypt destroyed more than 150 tunnels on its border last year, arguing that Hamas used them to support Islamist militants on Egypt's Sinai peninsula.

As the Associated Press explains, the destruction of the underground connection with Egypt was an economic disaster for Hamas, which levied taxes on the smuggled goods. Yet it also constituted a tragedy for many Gaza civilians, who relied on the tunnels for essential goods.

OVER WATER

Israel controls Gaza’s coastal waters and restricts Palestinian boats from traveling farther than 6 nautical miles from the coast. During conflicts, this is often limited to 3 nautical miles. The sea blockade not only prevents boats from getting to and from Gaza, it also severely restricts fishing, once a thriving economic industry in the area.

International activists have tried in the past to break the naval blockade by approaching Gaza by sea. The largest and most controversial effort came in 2010, when six ships carrying aid tried to travel from Turkey to the Gaza Strip. Clashes ensued when the Israeli Navy boarded the ships, leaving nine passengers dead and dozens of soldiers and activists injured.

BY AIR

Israel also controls Gaza's airspace and does not allow access to and from Gaza via air travel.

Leaving Gaza on a plane hasn’t always been impossible. In 1998, Gaza's Yasser Arafat International Airport opened for business after its construction had been stipulated in the 1995 Oslo agreements. Then President Bill Clinton even flew in for its official opening. However, Israel shut down the airport in 2000 after the outbreak of the second intifada. Today, the airport remains destroyed and deserted.

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An Israeli soldier walks past a Merkava tank along the border between Israel and the Hamas-controlle …

Cairo (AFP) - Egypt told the Islamic Jihad Friday it is delaying talks on a long-term Gaza ceasefire, the Palestinian militant group said, after Israel revealed one of its soldiers may have been captured.

"The Egyptians contacted the Islamic Jihad and said Israel told them that a soldier has been captured," the group's deputy leader Ziad al-Nakhale told AFP. "The talks have been postponed."

An Israeli army spokesman said an initial 72-hour truce that began at 0500 GMT on Friday was over after the suspected abduction of a soldier "in an incident where terrorists breached the ceasefire".

But Hamas's deputy leader Moussa Abu Marzuq said "any operation was conducted before the ceasefire started".

He told AFP that any announcement of a soldier's capture must come from the group's military wing in Gaza, but he did not deny that Hamas militants abducted the soldier.

Abu Marzuq said Hamas was still prepared to abide by the 72-hour truce if Israel was willing to do so.

US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns had been among the diplomats expected to travel to Egypt to take part in talks aimed at agreeing on a durable truce to follow the 72-hour one that collapsed soon after it began on Friday.

By Benny Avni