The death toll is climbing as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues, final polls suggest a coalition between National, Act and NZ First, and specialist groups continue the search for Yanfei Bao. Video / NZ Herald / Getty / AP
The reversal came after Biden had described seeing images of mutilated children during a meeting with Jewish leaders at the White House.
Biden had initially toldreporters: “I’ve been doing this a long time. I never really thought that I would see, have confirmed, pictures of terrorists beheading children.” The president’s voice trailed away in seeming disbelief at the images he had seen.
However a White House spokesperson later clarified that US officials and the president have not seen pictures or confirmed such reports independently.
The president based his comments about the alleged atrocities on the claims from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesman and media reports from Israel, according to the White House.
In response to questions from The Post, an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson declined to comment on the state of victims’ bodies.
A view of the rubble of buildings hit by an Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City. Photo / AP
The Telegraph has not been able to independently verify the reports of children being beheaded.
It comes a day after reports first emerged of a brutal massacre of babies and children in one of the last villages to be recaptured from Hamas.
Joe Biden said it was the 'deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust'. Photo / AP
Dozens of dead civilians were found in the kibbutz of Kfar Aza, with Israeli soldiers at the scene comparing the murders to the Nazi pogroms of the Second World War.
Many of the victims had their hands bound and some bodies had been burned beyond recognition.
The killing of children was reportedly repeated in another kibbutz, Kerem Shalom, with the IDF releasing photographs of a child’s bed covered in blood.
Police officers evacuate a woman and a child from a site hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, southern Israel. Photo / AP
Biden said the attack, which has claimed at least 1,200 Israeli lives, represented the “deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust”.
“This attack was a campaign of pure cruelty - not just hate, but pure cruelty - against the Jewish people,” he told Jewish leaders gathered at the White House.
He grew louder as he described bringing each of his children to the Dachau concentration camp run by the Nazis in southern Germany.
“I wanted them to see that you could not not know what was going on, walking through those gates,” he said, slamming the lectern as he spoke.
The president is not the only member of his administration to have grown emotional discussing the attack.
The typically composed White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby struggled to hold back tears while discussing some of the images from the conflict.
While live on CNN, he shook his head and struggled to speak. He said: “Excuse me. It’s very difficult to look at these images.
“These are human beings. They’re family members. They’re friends. They’re loved ones. Cousins, brothers, sisters. Yeah, it’s difficult, and I apologise.”
Mr Biden said: “I’ve known Bibi for over 40 years. We have a very frank relationship, I know him well.
“And the one thing that I did say is that it is really important that Israel, with all the anger and frustration that exists, is that they operate by the rules of war”. He added: “And there are rules of war.”
