Hamas on Thursday released a list of almost 7,000 names of Gazans it said had been killed in Israeli strikes after the US president cast doubt on its toll figures. The Hamas military group added that 'almost 50' Israeli hostages were killed in these raids.
The Palestinian Islamist group says that 7,028 people have now been killed in Gaza since its October 7 attacks which Israel says left 1,400 dead, mainly civilians.
The Hamas list of 6,747 names, released by its health ministry, gave the sex, age and identity card number of each of the victims. It said 281 bodies had not yet been identified.
The ministry said in a statement that the United States had "brazenly cast doubt on the truth of the announced toll".
"We have decided to announce the details of the names to the whole world so that the truth is known about the genocide perpetrated by the Israeli occupation against our people."
US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that he had "no confidence" in the militant group's death toll figures.
"What they say to me is I have no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed. I'm sure innocents have been killed, and it’s the price of waging a war," Biden told a White House press conference.
Biden has, however, been among several Western leaders to caution Israel over the civilian toll. Israel "should be incredibly careful to be sure that they're focusing on going after the folks that (are) propagating this war," he said.
Questioned about Hamas tolls on Thursday, Israeli military spokesman Richard Hecht said that "when the Hamas health ministry comes out with the numbers just take them with a pinch of salt."
The two sides have had several propaganda clashes during the war.
After a missile hit near a Gaza City hospital on October 17, Hamas blamed an Israeli air strike and said hundreds had been killed. Israel insists that a misdirected rocket fired by a Gaza militant group was to blame. It has also questioned the toll.
The United States and European countries have backed the Israeli version of events.
'Almost 50' Israeli hostages killed in raids
Hamas's armed wing said Thursday that "almost 50" Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip since the October 7 attacks have been killed in Israeli bombing raids on the Palestinian territory.
"(Ezzedine) Al-Qassam Brigades estimates that the number of Zionist prisoners who were killed in the Gaza Strip as a result of Zionist strikes and massacres has reached almost 50," the group said in a statement issued on its Telegram channel.
AFP was not immediately able to verify the claim. Israel launched a massive air and artillery bombardment of Gaza after Hamas carried out the brutal attacks on southern Israel.
Earlier, the Israeli army said 224 people were abducted by militants during the attack that left 1,400 people, mostly civilians, dead.
"We have informed the families of 224 hostages. This number is changing based on the intelligence we obtain," military spokesman Daniel Hagari told reporters.
"It will continue to change. The effort to return the hostages is a top priority."
According to Israeli government figures that could not be confirmed by AFP, at least half of the hostages have foreign passports.
On Thursday in Tel Aviv, an organisation representing the families of hostages warned they had reached "the end of their patience" and demanded a meeting with top government officials immediately.
"No more patience, from now on we will fight," said the group.
"We demand that the cabinet speak to us this evening and tell us how it intends to bring them back today. We are intensifying the struggle, we are no longer waiting to be led, we are leading the struggle," said Meirav Leshem Gonen -- the mother of Romi Gonen who is among the captives.
To date, four women have been released by the militants following mediation by Egypt and Qatar.
