From: ABC News

More than 2,085 people were killed and 1,600 detained in the massive US-Iraqi offensive on the rebel city of Fallujah, Iraqi national security adviser Qassem Daoud has said.

The US military had previously said at least 1,200 rebels had been killed.

The US and aid organisations have only just started discussing the means of retrieving the bodies that are still believed to be strewn across the deserted former rebel bastion.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi Red Crescent Society was able for the first time to deliver aid directly to families stranded by fighting in Fallujah after a US-led offensive to wrest the Sunni Muslim city from insurgents.

A single Red Crescent team delivered food and water to five families in a battered northern Fallujah neighbourhood after US marines patrolling the area found them hiding in their homes.

The Red Crescent estimates that only 150 to 175 families remained in Fallujah after the US-led offensive started on November 8 and civilians living in the ruined city have become desperate for water and blankets.

Red Crescent officials met with US marine Lieutenant Colonel Gary Montgomery to discuss cooperative aid efforts.

Red Crescent convoys were able to enter Fallujah on Wednesday and Monday, but only toured the city, saying they were unable to move freely and find any of those who needed assistance.

Red Crescent efforts to assist civilians still in Fallujah have been frustrated by ongoing military operations.

The agency's coordinator for Fallujah, Jotiar Nafaa, says getting into the city to assess how many people need help was the organisation's first priority.

Most of Fallujah's 300,000 inhabitants fled the city before the assault.

Many residents sought refuge with relatives in Baghdad and other nearby towns, but several thousands are stranded in refugee camps outside Fallujah.

No date has been decided for their return and the US Marines say basic services like water and electricity might not be restored until February.

The International Red Cross Committee is also planning a trip to Fallujah in coming days to make its own assessment of the situation.