13 hostages including foreigners killed in Israel strikes on Gaza: Hamas

At least 13 Israeli and foreign hostages held in the northern Gaza Strip have been killed in Israeli air strikes in the past 24 hours, Hamas's armed wing said Friday.

In a surprise assault early Saturday, Hamas militants stormed Israeli communities near the Gaza border and fired barrages of rockets, in an attack that claimed more than 1,200 lives.

Israel says Hamas has taken more than 150 people hostage, including both civilians and security forces.

"Thirteen prisoners... including foreigners" were killed in five locations targeted by Israeli fighter jets, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement.

Israel has rained air and artillery strikes on the blockaded Gaza Strip -- a densely populated enclave of 2.4 million people -- flattening buildings and killing more than 1,500 people.

According to the Hamas media office in Gaza, at least 500 children are among the dead.

The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades had warned this week that "every targeting of our people without warning will be met with the execution of one of the civilian hostages".

Hamas also rejected an Israeli order for 1.1 million residents to evacuate northern Gaza ahead of an expected ground incursion into the overcrowded Palestinian territory.

"Our Palestinian people reject the threat of the occupation (Israeli) leaders and its call for them to leave their homes and flee from them to the south or Egypt," the Islamist militant group said in a statement.

"We are steadfast on our land and in our homes and our cities. There will be no displacement," it said.

The United Nations said an order by Israel to flee within 24 hours risked a "calamitous situation".

Israeli strikes on the coastal enclave have killed more than 1,530 people since Saturday, in retaliation for Hamas militants killing around 1,200 people in attacks in Israel.

Egypt's Rafah crossing is the only route out of Gaza not controlled by Israel and has been bombed on several occasions this week.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said Egypt remains committed to ensuring the delivery of aid to Gaza, but urged Palestinians to "remain on their land" in a speech Thursday.