Sharjah 24 – AFP: US President Joe Biden issued some of his sternest criticism yet of Israel's war on “Hamas”, calling its approach a "mistake" as the country faces a Wednesday court deadline to prove it is not throttling aid to hunger-stricken Gaza.

With global outrage over the toll inflicted by the six-month-old war growing, Biden rebuked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's handling of the conflict and reiterated the need for a ceasefire.

"I think what he's doing is a mistake. I don't agree with his approach," Biden told Spanish-language TV network Univision in an interview that aired Tuesday night.

He urged Netanyahu "to just call for a ceasefire, allow for the next six, eight weeks, total access to all food and medicine going into the country", in remarks that underscored the dramatic shift in tone from Israel's main ally and military backer.

Biden's comments come as US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators seek progress on a truce and hostage release deal that also proposes ramping up aid deliveries to address a worsening hunger crisis in the Gaza Strip.

Israel insists it is not limiting aid and has complied with US and United Nations demands to scale up the deliveries.

The government faces a Wednesday deadline from the country's Supreme Court to demonstrate it has taken steps to increase the flow of humanitarian goods.

The case was brought by five NGOs that accuse Israel of restricting the entry of relief items and failing to provide basic necessities to Gazans.

The UN's agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said Tuesday that following reports of imminent famine, more than 40 percent of food delivery missions were denied in February and March. None of the UNRWA food convoys have been approved since March, it added.

Humanitarians have accused Israel of using starvation as a method of war in Gaza, where UN experts say 1.1 million people -- half the population -- are experiencing "catastrophic" food insecurity.

The Israeli agency that oversees supplies into the territory, COGAT, said 741 aid trucks had crossed into Gaza on Sunday and Monday, with another 468 entering on Tuesday.

Before the October 7 start of the war, about 500 trucks supplied Gaza daily.

Samantha Power, administrator of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), said recent days have seen a "sea change" in deliveries to Gaza, but added that Israel needs to do more.

"We have famine-like conditions in Gaza and supermarkets filled with food within a few kilometres away," she told US lawmakers during a Tuesday hearing.