Hamas says it lost 48 fighters during Israel's latest offensive in the Gaza Strip.

The claim in the militant group's first statement on its losses is far below the hundreds of militants that Israel says it killed.

It was impossible to verify the figures released by Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida. The Health Ministry says more than 1,200 Palestinians died in the fighting, more than half of them civilians. But the Hamas-run ministry has not released a full list of the dead.