Israel army says Gaza hostage count now 222 as it steps up bombings

Israel's army has revised its count for the number of hostages being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip after stepping up its bombardment of the enclave.

There are currently 222 hostages being held in Gaza, Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said Monday in a televised briefing, calling this the "final figure".

"Some foreigners" are among the hostages, Hagari said, adding: "It will take time to know more about those foreigners."

Israel has adjusted its numbers for how many captives are being held by Hamas, which took the hostages when it launched a surprise attack on Israeli territory on 7 October.

The number of hostages stood for more than a week at 199, before the count was raised to 203 on Friday.

Hamas said last week that it was holding between 200 and 250 hostages.

Since 7 October, Israel has been intensely bombarding the Gaza Strip for almost two weeks, killing more than 5,000 people - 2,000 of them children.

Gaza has been bracing itself for a ground invasion long threatened by Israel but yet to materialise.

On why Israel had yet to launch a ground operation, Hagari said: "The warplanes are attacking so many military points where the terrorists are in order to pave the way for the second phase of the war... we need to increase our capabilities and our readiness to start the ground attack in a better way."

Hagari's comments on readiness for a ground invasion came as US officials reportedly asked Israel to hold off on its ground invasion of Gaza.

The delay would give more time to negotiate for the release of the hostages and to allow more aid to reach Gaza, the New York Times reported Sunday citing several US officials. 

It would also serve to give the US more time to prepare for a potential increase on attacks on US interests in the region by Iran-backed groups, the officials reportedly said.

However, the Israeli embassy in Washington denied that the US had asked Israel to delay the operation.

"The US is not pressing Israel in regards to the ground operation," a diplomat from the embassy reportedly said.

Hamas on Friday freed two of the hostages, a mother and daughter who were US nationals, with Qatari mediation.

On the same day, Hamas said it had informed Qatar that it intended to release two more hostages - but that Israel declined to receive them. Israel dismissed Hamas' claim as "propaganda".