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More than 50 Palestinians have been killed and 450 wounded in Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, rockets continue to fly toward Israel from Gaza, but so far, no Israelis have been reported killed.

For people living in and around the Gaza Strip, this conflict has turned daily routines upside down. Life is punctuated by sirens and explosions.

NPR correspondent Ari Shapiro and producer Ahmed Abu Hamda recorded the stories of two families taking shelter from the escalating conflict.

Ashkelon, Israel

The sound of a siren means rockets are coming, and it's time to take cover — in an interior room of the house, maybe, or just lying on the ground with your hands covering your head.

For the Abulbul family, shelter is an underground concrete bunker. They share this single room with all the neighborhood families, 30 or 40 people in total.

There's no plumbing or air conditioning, and the shelter is sweltering.

Ofra Abulbul says her children refuse to go outside.

"My kids are very anxious," she says. "They won't go home to sleep, or shower, or eat. The toilet doesn't work here, so every time we have to go home to use the bathroom they're terrified."

Her 10-year-old son is named Nehorai. "Things are not OK," he says. "I'm scared."

A little dog named Bony is running around his feet.

"He also has anxieties," the boy says.

The children have nothing to do here. They lie on the concrete floor and stare at the ceiling, or when they feel hyper, they jump on a mattress until they're exhausted.

When he's scared, does he ever think that kids in Gaza might also feel scared? Nehorai says yes.

"My mother told me there were sirens there, too," he says. "And those kids also have to run away."