Israel has indicated that it will move to a new phase of low-intensity fighting with Hamas as it announced plans to pull thousands of troops and tanks out of the Gaza Strip on Monday, even as fighting raged elsewhere accompanied by intense bombardment.

An Israeli official said that the military would cut back on troop numbers and shift to a months-long phase of more localised "mopping up" operations.

Israel's nearly three-month war has reduced much of Gaza to rubble, killed more than 22,000 people and pushed the 2.3 million population into a humanitarian disaster.

Israel has come under intense international pressure to scale back the offensive, with the United States, Israel's closest ally, has repeatedly urged the military to do more to protect Palestinian refugees.

US President Joe Biden even said that Israel is losing global support due to "indiscriminate bombing" in Gaza and called on Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu's government to change".

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) announced that five brigades, or several thousand troops, would be taken out of Gaza in the coming weeks. Some will return to bases for further training or rest, while many older reservists will go home. "The objectives of the war require prolonged fighting, and we are preparing accordingly," said IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari.

A US official said that the decision appeared to indicate the start of a shift to lower-intensity operations in the north of the Palestinian enclave. This indicates a lowered offensive in Gaza as the USS Gerald R Ford aircraft carrier was announced to be returning to its home port in Virginia, after being deployed to the Eastern Mediterranean when the war broke out.

The Israeli official said the troop reduction would allow some reservists to return to civilian life, shoring up Israel's war-battered economy, and freeing up units in case of a wider conflict in the north with Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah. Artillery fire between Hezbollah and Israel has rattled the border since the start of the Gaza conflict.