Two Israeli tourists and one Egyptian were killed Sunday by a policeman in Egypt, local media and Israeli authorities said, as war rages for a second day between Israel and Hamas.

An Egyptian official said Sunday that Israel has sought help from Cairo to ensure the safety of dozens of captives and hostages held by Palestinian militants amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.

The official added that Egypt’s intelligence chief had contacted Hamas and the Islamic Jihad group to seek information.

The death toll from strong earthquakes that shook western Afghanistan has risen to over 2,000, a Taliban government spokesman said Sunday. It's one of the deadliest earthquakes to strike the country in two decades.

A powerful magnitude-6.3 earthquake followed by strong aftershocks killed dozens of people in western Afghanistan on Saturday, the country's national disaster authority said.

Israeli soldiers battled Hamas fighters in the streets of Israel's south on Sunday as Israel's retaliation strikes leveled buildings in Gaza.

Hamas fighters, backed by a volley of thousands of rockets, broke through barricades around Gaza early Saturday to rampage through nearby communities in Israel. They took captives back into the coastal enclave, including women, children and the elderly, while Israel's retaliation strikes leveled buildings in Gaza and its prime minister said the country was at war. Israeli media, citing rescue service officials, said at least 300 people were killed, including 26 soldiers. The health ministry in Gaza meanwhile said that at least 313 Palestinians have been killed and 1,990 wounded since the start of fighting.

Hezbollah on Sunday said it fired “a large number of artillery shells and guided missiles” at three Israeli military posts in the occupied Shebaa Farms as part of "liberating what's left of occupied Lebanese land and in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance."

Israel responded by firing artillery shells at areas in south Lebanon as one of its drones struck “Hezbollah infrastructure” in the Shebaa Farms area in response to the early morning attack. The "infrastructure" turned out to be the tent that Hezbollah had erected in the summer in the disputed area. The move had sparked months of tensions with Israel and the U.N. has been working to persuade Hezbollah to remove the tent.

Hundreds of people took to the streets Saturday in some Lebanese areas and in the country’s Palestinian refugee camps in celebration of Hamas’ unprecedented operation that has stunned Israel.

In the Bourj al-Barajneh camp south of Beirut, residents danced in the streets, while young men in the northern city of Tripoli distributed celebratory sweets to passersby in the streets.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday decried what he called the "appalling assault" by Hamas militants and his administration pledged to ensure Israel has "what it needs to defend itself" after the surprise attack that drew worldwide condemnation and anger from Israel's allies.

Biden made clear in a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that "we stand ready to offer all appropriate means of support," according to the White House. He also called Jordan's King Abdullah II. Secretary of State Antony Blinken rushed to the White House for meetings and was phoning foreign counterparts, while Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with Israel's defense minister.

Under cover of a barrage of rockets, dozens of Hamas militants broke out of the blockaded Gaza Strip and into nearby Israeli towns, killing hundreds and abducting others in an unprecedented surprise early morning attack during a major Jewish holiday Saturday. A stunned Israel said it is now at war with Hamas and launched airstrikes in Gaza, vowing to inflict an "unprecedented price."

In an assault of startling breadth, Hamas gunmen rolled into as many as 22 locations outside the Gaza Strip, including towns and other communities as far as 24 kilometers from the Gaza border. In some places, they roamed for hours, gunning down civilians and soldiers as Israel's military scrambled to muster a response. Gunbattles continued well after nightfall, and militants held hostages in standoffs in two towns.

Prisoners in the Zahle prison set their cells on fire, leaving three inmates dead and 16 others injured, according to a police statement.

Police said the fire started in several cells on the second floor in the main prison in the eastern city of Zahle after an apparent escape attempt. It said 19 prisoners suffered from smoke inhalation and were taken to hospital where three died later.

The Lebanese Army rescued more than 100 migrants after their boat developed technical problems in the Mediterranean off the coast of northern Lebanon, state-run National News Agency reported. No one was hurt in the incident.

The agency said the boat that was carrying 125 people, all of them Syrians except for one Lebanese, called for help after they faced problems while near the Palm Islands in Lebanese territorial waters. The boat was towed to the Lebanese port of Tripoli where some of the migrants received first aid, the agency added.