Sun., Oct. 8: Fire and smoke rise following an Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City.
Fatima Shbair / AP
Updated October 8, 2023 at 11:05 PM ET
Editor's note: This report contains some graphic images. Viewer discretion is advised.
Israel's military is striking targets in Gaza on Sunday while fighting continues against militants in southern Israel.
"We are at war," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, after Hamas militants infiltrated several Israeli towns and military camps and fired thousands of rockets from Gaza in a surprise attack on Saturday.
An Israeli military spokesman tells NPR that the Hamas militant group has taken Israelis hostage.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. has reports that some Americans have been killed or taken hostage in the violence.
The attack on Israel on Saturday came after recent weeks of volatile clashes between Palestinians and Israeli troops along the Gaza-Israel border, and deadly Israeli military raids and clashes with Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
We will continue to update this visual report as the situation evolves.
Sun., Oct. 8:
Sun., Oct. 8: Israelis inspect the rubble of a building a day after it was hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Oded Balilty / AP
Sun. Oct. 8: A destroyed mosque following an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip.
Ahmad Salem / Bloomberg via Getty Images
Sun., Oct. 8: A relative of an Israeli missing since a surprise attack by Hamas militants near the Gaza border, is overcome by emotion during a press conference in Ramat Gan, Israel.
Maya Alleruzzo / AP
Sun., Oct. 8: Rockets fired by Palestinian militants from Gaza City are intercepted by the Israeli Iron Dome defense missile system.
Eyad Baba / AFP via Getty Images
Sun., Oct. 8: Israeli forces cross a main road in their self-propelled howitzer as additional troops are deployed near the southern city of Sderot.
Menahem Kahana / AFP/Getty Images
Sun., Oct. 8: Residents check the damage following Israeli air strikes in Gaza City.
MAHMUD HAMS / AFP via Getty Images
Sun., Oct. 8: Israelis inspect the rubble of a building a day after it was hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv, Israe.
Oded Balilty / AP
A missile explodes in Gaza City during an Israeli air strike.
Mahmud Hams / AFP/Getty Images
Sun., Oct. 8: People inspect the ruins of a building destroyed in Israeli strikes.
Mahmud Hams / AFP via Getty Images
Sun., Oct. 8: An Israeli sodleir prays standing in front of a Merkava tank on the outskirts of the northern town of Kiryat Shmona near the border with Lebanon.
Jalaa Marey / AFP via Getty Images
Sun., Oct. 8: People gather at a mosque to pray over the bodies of the Abu Quta family and their neighbours, killed in Israeli strikes on the Palestinian city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
Said Khatib / AFP via Getty Images
Sun., Oct. 8: Trucks carry heavy armored vehicles and tanks of Israeli army as Israel tightens measures by the army, police and other security forces.
Mostafa Alkharouf / Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Sun. Oct. 8: An Israeli missile launched from the Iron Dome defense missile system attempts to intercept a rocket, fired from the Gaza Strip, over the city of Netivot in southern Israel.
Gil Cohen-Magen / AFP via Getty Images
Sat., Oct. 7:
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
Police officers evacuate a woman and a child from a site hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, southern Israel, Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023.
Tsafrir Abayov / AP
Palestinians gather around an Israeli army vehicle that Palestinian militants drove from Israel into Gaza, in Shejaiya, Gaza Strip, Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023.
Fatima Shbair / AP
Sat., Oct. 7: An ambulance takes away a person injured from a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Moti Milrod / AP
Sat., Oct. 7: A young woman reacts as she speaks to Israeli rescuers in Tel Aviv.
Jack Guez / AFP via Getty Images
Sat., Oct. 7: Journalists take cover behind cars as Israeli soldiers take position during clashes with Palestinian fighters near the Gevim Kibbutz, close to the border with Gaza.
Oren Ziv / AFP via Getty Images
Israeli fire brigade teams douse the blaze in a partking lot outside a residential building following a rocket attack from the Gaza Strip in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon.
Ahmad Gharabli / AFP via Getty Images
Sat., Oct. 7: Palestinians and militants from the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades run towards the Erez crossing between Israel and the northern Gaza Strip.
Majdi Fathi / AFP via Getty Images
Sat., Oct. 7: A man stands in front of a damaged shop in Tel Aviv.
Jack Guez / AFP via Getty Images
People standing on a rooftop watch as a ball of fire and smoke rises above a building in Gaza City.
Mahmud Hams / AFP via Getty Images
Children are seen in a destroyed house after Israeli attacks in Gaza City, Gaza.
Mustafa Hassona / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Members of the Israeli frorces take cover on the side of a street in Ashkelon as sirens wail while barrages of rockets are fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel on October 7, 2023.
Ahmad Gharabali / AFP via Getty Images
Smoke rises as the clashes between Palestinian groups and Israeli forces continue on the streets of Beit Hanun.
Ali Jadallah / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Rockets are fired toward Israel from the Gaza Strip, Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023. The rockets were fired as Hamas announced a new operation against Israel. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
Fatima Shbair / AP
Relatives of Palestinians, killed by Israeli forces during airstrike clashes, mourn after they were taken to the morgue of Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Gaza.
Ali Jadallah / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Palestinians inspect the destroyed buildings after a rocket attack by Israeli air forces targeting a shopping center in the Gaza Strip, Gaza.
Ali Jadallah / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
A salvo of rockets is fired by Palestinian militants from Gaza City toward Israel.
Mahmud Hams / AFP via Getty Images
Cars burn after a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit a parking lot and a residential building in Ashkelon, southern Israel, Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023.
Tsafrir Abayov / AP
Sat., Oct. 7: Palestinians groups break over a fence with the help of a digger.
Ashraf Amra/ / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images