Technically, they are claiming to be gods or deities when using the word "EL-ite" - see the following references:

El or Elohim Among ancient Israel’s neighbors, people referred to the most powerful god as “El,” which is not actually a name, but an ancient Semitic title, “god.” It could refer to many gods, but the chief deity of all the other gods was simply titled “El,” meaning “THE god.” In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for God is most often Elohim, which is used over 2,000 times to refer to the God of Israel and a few dozen times in reference to other gods. You can see by the shape of the word that “El-ohim” is a longer form of “El.” The Israelites also used the short form “El,” though it’s found mainly in the poetry of the Old Testament. Because both of the words El and Elohim are translated into English as “God,” you won’t notice the difference unless you read in Hebrew.

El (deity) - In northwest Semitic use, ʼĒl was a generic word for any god as well as the special name or title of a particular god who was distinguished from other gods as being "the god"

Elohim - The word el (singular) is a standard term for "god" in Aramaic, paleo-Hebrew, and other related Semitic languages including Ugaritic.