Pregnant mother hiding with her small child describes Hamas fighters trying to break into the safe room at their Israeli home

• Hamas gunmen are infiltrating Israeli towns and communities with little or no IDF presence, reports say.
• A pregnant woman in Sufa, a kibbutz, pleaded for help as militants tried to break into her home.

A pregnant woman in Kibbutz Sufa, a settlement in southern Israel, told Israel's Channel 12 that Hamas gunmen were attacking her house, per The Times of Israel.

"They are shooting at our house. They are trying to break down the door of the safe room," she told the channel.

She spoke by phone to the channel from inside the safe room, where she, her two-year-old child, and other close family members were sheltering from the fighting.

The woman was pleading for help, according to the report. "Send help, please," she said.

She said her husband was fighting in the streets alongside four other armed residents, with no assistance from the military.

Her kibbutz is one of the communities where Hamas militia are engaging in urban warfare while there is little or no presence from the Israel Defense Forces on the streets, The Times of Israel reports.

Israeli residents around the Gaza Strip are asking for support as Palestinian militants appear to raid with impunity.

A woman in the settlement of Be'eri told Channel 12 that her father had been kidnapped and taken to the Gaza Strip.

"He told me they were taking him," she said tearfully. "I saw pictures of him in Gaza," she added.

"We are at war"

The Hamas offensive began on Saturday morning when the Palestinian militant group launched thousands of rockets from Gaza, in the unprecedented wave of coordinated attacks. Israel has declared a "state of war."

The death toll is at least 22.

Israel's foreign ministry claimed that Hamas fighters were wantonly murdering civilians, per Sky News.

"Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israeli communities and started going house to house and murdering innocent Israelis," it said in a statement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said "we are at war" and Israel "will win" in a video message.

The IDF has carried out several air strikes on the Gaza Strip in response.