PEOPLE began to flee Iran’s capital today hours after US President Donald Trump said “everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran” on social media as Israel continued to bomb the country for a fifth day.

The Iranian authorities hadn’t issued any warnings or guidance for residents to flee the city when the Star went to press today.

Witnesses in Tehran told reporters today that sirens continued to blare across the city every few hours and that people were rushing for shelter.

Photographs from the city showed the traffic at a stand still and long queues at petrol stations.

Mr Trump told reporters on Air Force One after leaving the Group of Seven summit in Canada a day early today that he wasn’t looking for a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. “We’re looking at better than a ceasefire,” he said.

Mr Trump later shared a screenshot of a text message from his Israel envoy Mike Huckabee, seemingly suggesting the president do the unthinkable.

“You have many voices speaking to you, Sir, but there is only one voice that matters. His [God’s] voice,” the text message reads.

“No president in my lifetime has been in a position like yours. Not since [Harry] Truman in 1945. I don’t reach out to persuade you. Only to encourage you. I believe you will hear from heaven and that voice is far more important than mine or anyone else’s.”

Harry Truman was US president at the end of World War II and authorised the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing at least 150,000 people, mostly civilians and poisoning thousands more for generations.

Meanwhile, Israel and Iran continued to exchange missiles following Tel Aviv’s unprovoked attack on Tehran. Israel’s strikes have killed at least 224 people in Iran. And 24 people have been killed in Israel.

In Gaza, Israeli soldiers massacred at least 70 people in Khan Younis this morning while they waited for UN trucks to deliver desperately needed food and humanitarian aid.

Speaking from Nasser hospital, where the wounded from today’s attack were taken, US physician Dr Saeed Rehman, said: “What we’re seeing here is an absolute annihilation, an execution of humanity — of children, of pregnant women.”