International aid was trickling into parts of Turkey and Syria on Saturday where rescuers toiled to pull children from rubble in areas devastated by a massive earthquake that has killed over 24,000 people.

Two people including a child were killed on Friday in a car ramming attack on a bus stop in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, Israeli authorities said.

Israel's Ashkenazi chief rabbi, David Lau, ruled Friday that emergency teams deployed to Turkey to help in the earthquake response should work through the Jewish sabbath to save lives.

The Syrian government said on Friday it had approved the delivery of humanitarian aid to areas outside its control in the quake-hit rebel-held northwest of the country.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad made his first visit Friday to a region stricken by an earthquake that has killed thousands in his country, his office said.

The president and his wife Asma visited survivors at their bedsides at a hospital in the northern city of Aleppo, images published by Syrian official media showed.

The United States has announced an initial $85 million aid package to help Turkey and Syria recover from the devastating earthquake, while also granting a temporary relief of some Damascus-related sanctions.

An aid convoy reached rebel-held northwestern Syria Thursday, the first since a devastating earthquake that has killed thousands, an official at the Bab al-Hawa border crossing told AFP.

Leveraging years of experience gleaned during Syria's war, the White Helmets are spearheading rescue efforts in the country's rebel-held north following the powerful earthquake that rocked Syria and Turkey.

Here is an overview of the group, whose volunteers are known for their bravery during dramatic rescue operations from bombed out buildings in the middle of the devastating, more than decade-long civil war.

Syria on Wednesday made an official plea to the EU for help after the deadly earthquake that struck it and Turkey this week, the bloc's commissioner for crisis management said.

The European Commission is "encouraging" EU member countries to respond to Syria's request for medical supplies and food, said the commissioner, Janez Lenarcic.

Ridwan Gurre had the instincts to hide from roaring warplanes when he lived in Syria during its civil war.

But little prepared him for the rumble of the 7.8-magnitude quake that devastated his adopted home in Turkey on Monday.