Palestine death toll ‘likely higher’ than official 10,000 figure, says US

Claims by the US that Israel is “committed” to creating four-hour windows in which attacks on Hamas as paused have been contended.

Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to contradict that last night, and IDF spokesman Colonel Richard Hecht said there had been “no shift”. He referred to existing windows as “tactical local pauses for humanitarian aid, which are limited in time and area”.

This comes as a senior figure in the Biden administration said that Hamas’s figure of the death toll in Gaza may actually be higher than the terror organisation claims.

She said the number killed is “very possibly” higher than the 10,000 the terrorists claim.

Barbara Leaf, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, was questioned on the use of “propaganda” by Hamas. The Palestinian ministry of health is run by the terror group responsible for the horrors of October 7, and it claims to record the number of deaths in the Strip.

Ms Leaf said that it was a tough task to accurately tell how many casualties there are while the conflict is ongoing.

She said: “We think they’re very high, frankly, and it could be that they’re even higher than are being cited. We’ll know only after the guns fall silent.

“We take sourcing from a variety of folks who are on the ground. I can’t stipulate to one figure or another. It’s very possible that they’re even higher than is being reported.”

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Welcome to the Express.co.uk Israel-Hamas war live blog. We’ll be posting the latest from the conflict throughout the day, so stay with us to find out everything you need to know about the situation in the Middle East as well as its impact in the UK and around the world.

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