A church group from Daphne had just started on a tour in Tel Aviv when Palestinian militant group Hamas launched unexpected missiles and gunfire into southern Israel.

The Rev. Thack Dyson, who leads St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Daphne, said in a Facebook live video last night that he and a group of church members heard the air raid sirens on Saturday morning local time in Israel. Soon after, Israeli tour company Immanuel Tours moved the group north to the Sea of Galilee, further from Gaza, he said.

“Good morning and welcome to morning prayer this Sunday morning in beautiful Galilee. We’re here in the middle of a war,” he said at the start of the live prayer service. “This is not what we planned, but this is what we got.”

The group flew to Israel from Alabama on Friday morning and planned to return on Oct. 18, per another video posted to the church’s Facebook page earlier this week. Dyson has led tours with the group since 2010, according to the tour group.

Hundreds of Israelis and Palestinians have been killed since Hamas first launched rockets and sent gunmen to attack army bases and towns in southern Israel early Saturday morning, local time, and started taking hostages. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared war, and Israel has since launched air strikes on the Gaza strip, including on Hamas’ sites, as well as houses and mosques. Disputes over who has rights to the land have long preceded this latest conflict between Israel and Palestine.

“All our current groups are safe,” the tour company posted on Facebook on Saturday. “We are closely monitoring the situation in coordination with the Israeli authorities and we will keep you informed as we move forward.”

It’s unclear exactly how many St. Paul’s church members are in Israel. Representatives for the church did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

During the prayer service posted to the church’s Facebook page around 11 p.m. Central Standard Time on Saturday night, Dyson said that the group was safe, and thanked people for their prayers and outreach.

“We’re beyond the range of any missiles that would be coming out of Gaza,” he said. “We’re going to stay here until we can get flights and fly back to the States.”

Dyson said that some people had booked flights but there had already been cancellations. He said he hopes everyone will get home by Thursday.

He led several prayers from a prayer book, echoed by the members in the room.

“We all trust in the Lord’s providence. We all trust in the Lord’s care, and we know that we’re in God’s good hands,” Dyson said. “I just pray that the people of Israel will also experience that same sense of God’s grace and providence, and that there’s peace soon in this land.”