Israel on Friday announced that it would allow "temporary" aid deliveries into famine-threatened northern Gaza, hours after the United States warned of a sharp shift in its policy over Israel's war against Hamas militants.

In a tense, 30-minute phone call, President Joe Biden told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that United States policy on Israel was dependent on the protection of civilians and aid workers in Gaza, the first hint of possible conditions to Washington's military support.

Hours later, Israel announced it would open more aid routes into the coastal Palestinian territory which Israel placed under siege at the start of the war nearly six months ago.

Israel has come under mounting international pressure over the toll inflicted by its six-month war on Hamas, and drawn increasingly tough rebuke from its main backer Washington.

According to a media tally based on official Israeli figures, the bloodiest-ever Gaza war began with Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,170 Israelis and foreigners, most of them civilians,

In a similar development, Muslim worshippers form a queue at the Israeli Qalandia checkpoint in the West Bank, as they head to Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem for the last Friday prayers during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.