At least eight French nationals were missing, dead or taken hostage after Hamas's weekend attack on Israel, a lawmaker said Monday.
But the foreign ministry confirmed the deaths of only two citizens in a statement.
"France regrets the tragic death of a second French national, who fell victim to Hamas's terrorist attacks against Israel," the ministry said.
"We are continuing our efforts to clarify the situations of those of our nationals who remain unaccounted for," it added.
Earlier, conservative MP Meyer Habib, who represents French people living abroad in a swathe of Mediterranean countries including Israel, wrote that "at least eight French people are believed to be missing, dead or taken hostage by Hamas" in a post to X (formerly Twitter).
Paris "should hold Hamas directly responsible for (hostages') safety and use every means to secure their release," Habib added.
Habib said he had spoken to the father of 26-year-old Avidan T. from Bordeaux, who lives in Israel.
The father "confirmed to me that, as we feared, this young Frenchman... has indeed been taken hostage," he wrote.
Habib had posted Sunday that Avidan was one of the revellers at a desert rave in southern Israel hit in a Hamas attack that killed hundreds of people.
The foreign ministry said Monday that almost 62,000 French nationals were registered with the consulate-general in Tel Aviv, with a further 25,000 in Jerusalem.
Many French travellers were also present in Israel at the time of the attacks, it added.
The French anti-terrorist prosecutor's office, which has jurisdiction over war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against French citizens abroad, said on Monday that it was "in contact with the (French) foreign ministry".
"(This) is to obtain information on the victims and the circumstances of their deaths in order to decide whether or not to open one or more investigations," it added.
French nationals should "follow the recommendations to remain extremely vigilant issued by our teams at the French embassy in Tel Aviv, the consulate-general in Jerusalem and the Israeli authorities," the ministry urged.
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