"The first two days were okay, people said it would just end. But then it started escalating and people really started panicking," said Mehran Ataei of the Israeli bombardment of Tehran.

Speaking to AFP at the Kapikoy crossing on the Turkish border, the 58-year-old Franco-Iranian, who lives in Paris, fled Tehran on the fifth day of an escalating war with Israel.

As well as the ongoing bombardments, those fleeing the capital spoke of very limited internet access, problems withdrawing money after two major banks were hacked and food shortages.

Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed at least 72 people on Thursday, including 21 who had gathered near aid distribution sites as famine looms after more than 20 months of war.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that six people were killed while waiting for aid in the southern Gaza Strip and 15 others in a central area known as the Netzarim corridor, where thousands of Palestinians have gathered daily in the hope of receiving food rations.

Mohammad Hassan anxiously returned to Pakistan from neighbouring Iran this week after witnessing drones, missiles, and explosions tear through Tehran's sky during what he called long, "horrifying nights".

The 35-year-old University of Tehran student is one of about 3,000 Pakistanis who, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, have returned home since Israel launched its aerial war against its long-time enemy last week.

Israel's defence minister said Thursday that Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei "can no longer be allowed to exist", just days after reports that Washington vetoed Israeli plans to assassinate him.

The comments from Defence Minister Israel Katz came after the Soroka Hospital in the southern city of Beersheba reported 40 people injured following a fresh salvo of Iranian missiles.

"Khamenei openly declares that he wants Israel destroyed -- he personally gives the order to fire on hospitals," Katz told journalists in the city of Holon near Tel Aviv.

The US special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack warned Lebanese militant group Hezbollah on Thursday against getting involved in the war between its main backer Iran and Israel.

Barrack, who is also the US ambassador to Turkey, is on his first visit to Beirut, where he met top Lebanese officials including parliament speaker Nabih Berri, an ally of Hezbollah.

Israel and Iran exchanged fire again on Friday, a week into the war between the longtime enemies.

Here are the latest developments:

- Iran meetings -

European top diplomats are meeting with Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Geneva on Friday to discuss Iran's nuclear programme.

Foreign ministers from France, Germany, Britain and the EU are urging de-escalation, with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy saying the next two weeks are "a window... to achieve a diplomatic solution".

Iraq's top Shiite Muslim cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani warned against targeting Iran's leadership and said that the Iran-Israel war could plunge the whole region into chaos.

Sistani said in a statement Thursday that any targeting of Iran's "supreme religious and political leadership" would have "dire consequences on the region".

He warned that such action against the Shiite-led Islamic republic could spark "widespread chaos that would exacerbate the suffering of its (the region's) people and severely harm everyone's interests".

Governments around the world are evacuating thousands of their nationals caught up in the rapidly spiralling Israel-Iran conflict, organising buses and planes and in some cases assisting people crossing borders on foot.

Foreigners have rushed to leave both countries after Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign on Friday targeting Iran's nuclear and military facilities, sparking retaliation from Tehran.

With Israel's air space closed and the two countries exchanging heavy missile fire, many people are being evacuated via neighbouring countries.

- Europe -

For days, Syrians have watched as Iranian missiles and Israeli interceptors light up the skies over their territory, but the new government in Damascus has so far remained officially silent on the unprecedented conflict.

Iran was one of former ruler Bashar al-Assad's biggest backers, playing a crucial role in propping up his government by providing military advisers and the support of affiliated armed groups throughout the 14-year Syrian civil war.

European foreign ministers will hold talks Friday with their Iranian counterpart, hoping to reach a diplomatic solution to the war with Israel as US President Donald Trump mulls the prospect of US involvement.

Israel, claiming Iran was on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon, launched air strikes against its arch-enemy a week ago, triggering deadly exchanges.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has sworn Iran will "pay a heavy price" for a strike on an Israeli hospital on Thursday, an attack Tehran said was targeting a military and intelligence base.