A US security envoy had talks with Israel about shifting its strategy in Gaza toward surgical operations against Hamas from a broad ground campaign, and President Joe Biden has appealed for civilian lives in the Palestinian territory to be saved, Reuters reports.

With nightfall on Thursday, Israeli tanks and planes intensified bombardment of the northern Gaza neighbourhoods of Shejaia, Zeitoun and Daraj as well as Khan Younis in the south of the enclave, residents said.

Four people, including two children, were killed and several others wounded in an Israeli air strike on a house in Khan Younis in southern Gaza early on Friday, Palestinian health officials said.

Israel has been pounding the 40-kilometre length of Gaza with no sign of a pause in hostilities or a ceasefire that would enable delivery of more desperately needed basic supplies for civilians to survive as their homes have been destroyed.