A first aid ship plying a new maritime corridor from Cyprus began unloading its cargo of desperately needed food in Gaza Friday as Hamas proposed a new six-week truce in the war.

AFP footage showed the Open Arms, which set sail from Cyprus on Tuesday, towing a barge that the Spanish charity operating it says is loaded with 200 tonnes of food for Gazans threatened with famine after more than five months of war.

The Israeli military said it had deployed troops to "secure the area" around the jetty. The "vessel underwent a comprehensive security inspection," it added.

The Hamas-ruled territory's health ministry said at least 149 people had been killed in the past 24 hours.

Witnesses reported air strikes and fighting in the southern Gaza Strip's main city Khan Yunis as well as areas of the north where humanitarian conditions have been particularly dire.

As Muslim worshippers marked the first Friday of the fasting month of Ramadan, thousands attended prayers in the revered Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, amid a heavy Israeli security presence and restrictions on entry.

In southern Gaza's Rafah, the last major population centre yet to be subjected to a ground assault, AFPTV footage showed worshippers praying by the rubble of a destroyed mosque.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday he had approved the military's plan for an operation in Rafah, where most of the Gaza Strip's population has sought refuge, without providing details or a timeline.

The White House, which has said an assault on Rafah would be a "red line" without credible civilian protection plans, said it had not seen the plan approved by Netanyahu.