Israel's Security Cabinet says it is at war after surprise Hamas attack. Follow live updates

Israel says it is at war as its soldiers battle Hamas fighters in the streets of southern Israel and launch airstrikes on Gaza, the day after an unprecedented surprise attack by Hamas fighters. In northern Israel a brief exchange of strikes with Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group raised fears of a broader conflict. Prime Minister Benjamin said Sunday that his Security Cabinet has formally declared the country at war.

Israel says it is at war as its soldiers battle Hamas fighters in the streets of southern Israel and launch airstrikes on Gaza, the day after an unprecedented surprise attack by Hamas fighters.

In northern Israel a brief exchange of strikes with Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group raised fears of a broader conflict. Prime Minister Benjamin said Sunday that his Security Cabinet has formally declared the country at war.

Follow our live updates.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. is looking at additional requests for assistance that the Israelis have made, and there could be developments on that front later Sunday.

He told CNNS President Joe Biden's "direction was to make sure that we're providing Israel everything it needs in this moment to deal with the attacks from Hamas."

Blinken, who gave interviews to multiple U.S. television news shows Sunday, also talked about how the Hamas attack could have been motivated in part to derailed an emerging diplomatic deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

"It's no surprise that those who are opposed to the talks, those who are opposed to Israel normalizing relations with its neighbours and the countries beyond the region are Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran. And so it's entirely possible that one of the motivations for this attack was to try to derail these efforts to advance normalization," Blinken said.