White House retracts Biden claim of seeing evidence of beheaded babies

The White House has walked back claims made by US President Joe Biden that he had seen images of "children with their heads cut off" after Hamas attacked an Israeli village on Saturday.

"I've been doing this a long time," Biden told the press Wednesday. "I never really thought that I would see... have confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children."

A spokesperson for the White House later said that Biden and US officials had not seen such photos, nor confirmed such claims independently, The Washington Post reported. 

The White House said Biden had been repeating claims made by a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to the Post.

Reports of beheadings at Kfar Azza have been rife since Israeli military personnel toured foreign media around the site in the aftermath of fighting.

The kibbutz was one of the first sites of fighting after militants from the Palestinian group Hamas infiltrated Israel in a surprise attack launched Saturday.

Journalists said they had been told by Israeli soldiers that some "40 babies" had been murdered during the fighting and that men, women, and children had been "beheaded".

The Israeli army later told media that it had not yet verified the claims made by their own soldiers.

Hamas has denied claims it beheaded children.

The US has reaffirmed its staunch support for Israel since Hamas attacked on Saturday. Washington has sent warships, weapons and special operations forces to the region in support of Israel.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken flew on Thursday to Israel and will meet the leaders of Jordan and Palestine on Friday.

Israel's military has bombed the Gaza Strip relentlessly since Hamas launched its attack, killing more than 1,300 people - including at least 365 children, and wounding over 6,000 people.

At least 1,300 people in Israel were left dead and thousands more wounded.