PHOTO ESSAY: Life goes on underground in Israel, in scenes both real and surreal

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — When sirens and cellphone alerts blare warnings of missiles incoming from Iran, people in Israel stream into shelters, turning parking garages, metro stations and basements into temporary communities.

These images show how surreal the scenes can become when life is interrupted at any moment day or night, and how, after constant waves of conflict, Israelis have found ways to quickly adapt, snatching a few moments of relief even as tensions rise.

Inside one shelter, a bride-to-be poses with her family, continuing the wedding photo shoot they’d been doing above ground. Their big dresses take up much of the dark, cramped space. During the Jewish holiday of Purim, revelers in costumes — a Shrek, a horror-film nurse splattered with fake blood — crowd into an underground station, almost dreamlike against the gray walls.

For many Israelis, heading to shelters is a familiar response shaped by past wars. Israel has an extensive system of private safe rooms and public shelters, unlike other nations across the region, including Iran and Lebanon, where residents are also seeking shelter from strikes. While the occupied West Bank is not being directly targeted, missiles can pass above the territory that has little access to shelters, and four Palestinian women were recently killed.

When warnings around Israel blare, shelters swell with people for 15 minutes, half an hour, however long the alert lasts.

Some have moved completely underground because they don't have access to shelters in poorer neighborhoods or have mobility issues.

Under Tel Aviv’s decrepit bus station, dozens of families have moved full-time into tents. Many are Filipino and Eritrean migrants from the surrounding area, Tel Aviv's most decrepit, which lacks sufficient shelters. They go home for a few hours every day to cook and bring it back to share with others, creating an impromptu soup kitchen with ice coolers, microwaves and Tupperwares of food.

Israel’s hospitals quickly instituted their underground emergency procedures on the first day of the war with Iran. At Sheba Medical Center, a staffer blows bubbles to entertain a young patient in a makeshift ward set up on a parking level.

In the cavernous parking lot under Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Center mall, each day brings new, incongruous moments as thousands crowd within the echoing, concrete walls and pillars, where in normal times mallgoers wander in search of their cars.

Women in a yoga class slide into downward dog pose on mats laid across parking spots as a man nearby plays guitar. Miri Kaftor, who in normal times teaches yoga in a quiet studio nearby, has had to adapt to holding classes here under fluorescent lights with screaming kids riding scooters nearby.

Later that night, a stand-up comedian hosts a singles event in which a hopeful woman dressed as a bride laughs and rides on the back of a man wearing a turtle costume.

One corner becomes an impromptu prayer hall, where a circle of men in shawls bow their heads among the shadows. In another section, kids watch TV at a children’s play zone.

The photos give a look at daily life transplanted into sometimes claustrophobic spaces – down to the pets. A dog lies across the lap of a sleeping man. Another waits patiently in the darkness as people sit worried, bored, impatient, under a shelter’s neon light and the glow of a mobile phone.

This is a documentary photo story curated by AP photo editors.

A smiley face is painted on a blue wall beneath Tel Aviv's central bus station, used as a shelter against possible Iranian missile attacks, Thursday, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Children play in an underground parking garage where people spend the night as a precaution against possible Iranian missile attacks in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Tents, mattresses and children's toys are spread across an underground parking garage where people spend the night as a precaution against possible Iranian missile attacks in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

A man plays the guitar as people attend a yoga class in an underground parking garage used as a shelter against possible Iranian missile attacks in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Children watch TV in an underground parking garage where people spend the night as a precaution against possible Iranian missile attacks in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

A medical staff member entertains a young patient in a temporary emergency ward set up in a parking garage used as a shelter beneath Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Israel, Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

People take cover in a bomb shelter beneath a shopping mall as air raid sirens warn of incoming missiles from Iran in Ramat Gan, Israel, Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

A child's stuffed rabbit sits on one of the mattresses spread across an underground parking garage where people spend the night as a precaution against possible Iranian missile attacks in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Tents are seen set up beneath Tel Aviv's central bus station, where people shelter as a precaution against possible Iranian missile attacks, Thursday, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

A woman sits on a mattress in an underground metro station serving as a bomb shelter amid the threat of possible Iranian missile attacks during the Jewish holiday of Purim in Ramat Gan, Israel, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Jewish men wrapped in prayer shawls pray in an underground parking garage used as a shelter against possible Iranian missile attacks in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

People sleep in an underground metro station used as a shelter against possible Iranian missile attacks in Ramat Gan, Israel, Saturday, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

A bride and her family sit in a bomb shelter after an alert warning of missiles fired from Iran toward central Israel interrupted their wedding photo shoot in a nearby park in Ramat Gan, Israel, Thursday, March 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

People, some wearing costumes for the Jewish holiday of Purim, gather in an underground metro station used as a shelter against possible Iranian missile attacks in Ramat Gan, Israel, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

A temporary emergency ward is set up in a parking garage used as a shelter beneath Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Israel, Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

People sit around a makeshift dinner table with groceries beside tents as they take shelter beneath Tel Aviv's central bus station as a precaution against possible Iranian missile attacks, Thursday, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Medical staff transfer patients in a temporary emergency ward set up in a parking garage used as a shelter beneath Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Israel, Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

People gather in a bomb shelter as air raid sirens warn of incoming missiles from Iran in Ramat Gan, Israel, Sunday, March 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

A woman dressed as a bride rides on the back of a man dressed as a turtle during a singles event in an underground parking garage used as a shelter against possible Iranian missile attacks in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

A man takes cover in a bomb shelter underneath a residential building as air raid sirens warn of incoming missile strikes from Iran in Ramat Gan, Israel, Sunday, March 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iranian missiles and drones targeted Israel and Gulf Arab states Tuesday, even as U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. was in talks with the Islamic Republic to end the war.

Trump also delayed a deadline for Iran to open the strategic Strait of Hormuz for shipping or see its power stations targeted by airstrikes, briefly driving down oil prices and boosting stocks.

The delay offered a reprieve after the U.S. and Iran traded threats over the weekend of strikes that could have cut electricity to millions in Iran and around the Gulf and knocked out desalination plants that provide many desert nations with drinking water, while raising fears of possible catastrophe if nuclear plants were hit.

But any information on the talks described by Trump remain in dispute with Iran, which denied any talks had been held.

“No negotiations have been held with the US,” Iranian parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf posted on X, adding that “fakenews is used to manipulate the financial and oil markets.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said Israel will continue to strike Iran and Lebanon even as the U.S. considers a ceasefire.

“There’s more to come,” he said.

Iran fired three waves of missiles at Israel early Tuesday, with reports of an impact in the country's north, the Israeli Home Front Command said.

Israel, meantime, pounded Beirut's southern suburbs saying that it was targeting infrastructure used by the Iran-linked Hezbollah militant group.

In Kuwait, power lines were hit from air defense shrapnel, causing partial electricity outages in several hours. Missile alert sirens sounded in Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia's Defense Ministry said it had destroyed 19 Iranian drones targeting its oil-rich Eastern Province.

Oil prices briefly fell below $100 a barrel after Trump claimed his government was in talks to end the war. But that respite was short lived, with the price of Brent crude, the international standard, back to $104 a barrel in morning trading, up more than 40% since Israel and the U.S. started the war on Feb. 28.

Trump initially set a deadline of late Monday, Washington time, for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face attacks on its power plants, but on Monday he gave Tehran five more days to comply.

Iran has allowed a small number of ships through the strait, which leads from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, but has said it will continue to target vessels linked to the U.S., Israel or its allies.

Its leaders are wary of Washington's motives, in part because Tehran was in negotiations with the U.S. before the surprise attack that started the war. Iran had also been in talks last year when the U.S. and Israel attacked its nuclear facilities, starting a 12-day war.

Trump's extension of the deadline comes as a contingent of thousands of Marines is on the way to the area, raising speculation that the U.S. may try to seize Kharg Island, which is off of Iran's coast and vital to the country's oil network.

The U.S. bombed the island in the Persian Gulf more than a week ago, hitting its defenses but saying it had left oil infrastructure intact.

Iran has threatened if the U.S. appears to be on the verge of landing troops it could mine the Persian Gulf, which would complicate an amphibious assault and also imperil all shipping in the area.

The delay could be timed to coincide with the arrival of U.S. Marines in the region, expected Friday, wrote the New York-based think tank the Soufan Center in an analysis.

“As Trump has in the past, he could be moving military assets into place, in this case to prepare for an invasion and seizure of Kharg Island, while using negotiations as a cover until those assets are fully combat-ready.”

However, the center also noted that “Trump could be actively seeking an offramp. Whether Iran reciprocates is yet to be seen.”

Trump has said he has no plans to send ground forces into Iran but has not ruled it out. Israel has suggested its ground forces could take part in the war.

Iran’s death toll has surpassed 1,500, its Health Ministry has said. In Israel, 15 people have been killed by Iranian strikes. At least 13 U.S. military members have been killed, along with more than a dozen civilians in the occupied West Bank and Gulf Arab states.

Rising reported from Bangkok and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writers Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greece and Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut contributed to this report.

An Israeli rescue officer responds at the site of an Iranian missile strike in Tel Aviv, Israel,Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israeli security and rescue forces respond at the site of an Iranian missile strike in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

A man takes cover as air raid sirens sound, warning of rockets launched from Lebanon toward Israel, in Kiryat Shmona, northern Israel, Monday, March 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Children play beside a fragment of an Iranian ballistic missile that landed in a schoolyard in the Israeli settlement of Peduel in the West Bank Monday, March 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Rubble covers the furniture of a destroyed living room in a residential building hit in an earlier U.S.-Israeli strike in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Rescue workers and first responders work at a residential building hit in an earlier U.S.-Israeli strike in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Missiles launched from Iran streak across the sky over central Israel, early Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)