Gaza air strikes kill 94 as manhunt unfolds in West Bank / Photo: - - AFP
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Gaza air strikes kill 94 as manhunt unfolds in West Bank
Palestinian rescuers reported 94 people killed Thursday in Israeli strikes on blockaded Gaza, where a US-backed organisation said it intends to begin distributing aid by the end of the month.
In the occupied West Bank, raids were ongoing and roads blocked after Israel's military chief vowed to find the perpetrators of an attack that killed a pregnant Israeli woman.
"Ninety-four martyrs have been killed in Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip since dawn today," civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Basal told AFP.
The agency had given an earlier toll of 50 dead.
Amir Selha, a 43-year-old Palestinian from north Gaza, reported "intense Israeli shelling all night".
"Tank shells are striking around the clock, and the area is packed with people and tents," he said.
Most Gazans have been displaced at least once during 19 months of war between Israel and Hamas.
Israel blocked all aid from entering Gaza on March 2, before resuming operations on March 18 after talks to prolong a six-week ceasefire collapsed.
Israel said the pressure aimed to force Hamas to free hostages in Gaza, most of them held since the Palestinian Islamist movement's unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-supported NGO, said it would begin distributing humanitarian aid in Gaza this month after talks with Israeli officials.
It said it had asked Israel to secure distribution points in northern Gaza, and that Israel had agreed.
- Evacuation orders -
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Thursday that 2,876 people have been killed since Israel resumed strikes on March 18.
It said the overall death toll in Gaza since the war broke out on October 7, 2023 stands at 53,010.
The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Of the 251 hostages taken during the attack, 57 remain in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead.
Selha in Gaza said army quadcopter drones dropped leaflets in his neighbourhood early Thursday, asking residents to move south.
The UN estimates that 70 percent of Gaza is now either an Israeli-declared no-go zone or under evacuation order.
Basal said in a statement Thursday Israel "is employing a policy of shrinking areas and emptying populated regions to pressure and terrorise civilians".
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday the military would enter Gaza "with full force" in the coming days.
Despite air strikes, talks are still ongoing for a hostage release and ceasefire deal.
With US President Donald Trump touring Gulf countries, his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff discussed the hostages issue with Netanyahu on Wednesday.
Hamas in a statement Thursday accused Netanyahu of undermining hostage release and ceasefire efforts "through deliberate military escalation, showing indifference to his captives, endangering their lives".
In the north of the occupied West Bank, meanwhile, Israel's army chief said a manhunt was under way after an attack that killed a pregnant woman.
Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said at the site of the attack: "We will use all the tools at our disposal and reach the murderers in order to hold them accountable."
The woman, an Israeli settler who was on her way to give birth, was pronounced dead early Thursday. Her baby was saved after delivery by caesarean section, according to the Tel Aviv hospital where she was taken.
- Calls for revenge -
Israel's military said in a statement Thursday that "both a physical and intelligence-based search" for the attacker was under way.
Users of Palestinian Telegram channels sharing information on West Bank checkpoints on Thursday reported many road closures in the territory's north.
WhatsApp groups for Israeli settlers in the West Bank were rife with calls for vengeance in retaliation for the attack.
"To make sure this never happens again.. we need real revenge! Erase every terror village, and every village that stays silent in the face of the murder of Jews," one user wrote.
In the northern West Bank town of Tammun, meanwhile, an army raid early Thursday killed four Palestinians, the mayor said.
Najeh Bani Odeh said he had been informed via a Palestinian-Israeli coordination channel that four fighters had been killed.
The army did not confirm the raid to AFP.
Bani Odeh said soldiers entered Tammun at 7am and surrounded a house in which "there were between four and five gunmen".
"We do not know what happened yet because the army is still present, but residents in the area said the army entered the house and that the young men were martyred inside," Bani Odeh told AFP.
An AFP reporter said military bulldozers had begun demolishing a house.
R.Verbruggen--JdB
