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Gaza air strikes kill over 100 as manhunt unfolds in West Bank / Photo: © AFP
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Gaza air strikes kill over 100 as manhunt unfolds in West Bank
Palestinian rescuers reported more than 100 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.
Gaza's civil defence agency said the death toll from Israeli bombardment since dawn on Thursday had risen to 103.
Israel blocked all aid from entering Gaza on March 2, before resuming operations on March 18, ending a six-week ceasefire.
"Israel's blockade has transcended military tactics to become a tool of extermination", Human Rights Watch (HRW) interim executive director Federico Borello said in a statement Thursday.
HRW said "the Israeli government's plan to demolish what remains of Gaza's civilian infrastructure and concentrate the Palestinian population into a tiny area would amount to an abhorrent escalation of its ongoing crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing and acts of genocide".
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.
He added that in early morning Israeli army drones dropped leaflets in his neighbourhood, warning residents to move south.
Most Gazans have been displaced at least once during 19 months of war between Israel and Hamas.
Israel says the pressure aims to force Hamas to free the remaining hostages seized in the October 2023 attack which triggered the war.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-supported NGO, said it would begin distributing humanitarian aid in Gaza this month after talks with Israeli officials.
In a joint statement on Tuesday, five European members of the UN Security Council said that they were "deeply concerned" at the Israeli plan, "which the United Nations has said would not meet humanitarian principles".
- 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, taking the war's overall toll to 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.
The United Nations estimates that 70 percent of Gaza is now either an Israeli-declared no-go zone or under evacuation order.
Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Basal said Israel was "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 the bombardment, efforts are still under way for a new hostage release and ceasefire deal.
With US President Donald Trump touring Gulf Arab states, his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff discussed the hostages issue with Netanyahu on Wednesday.
Hamas accused Netanyahu of undermining ceasefire and hostage release efforts "through deliberate military escalation, showing indifference to his captives, endangering their lives".
In the northern West Bank, the Israeli military said a manhunt was under way after an attack that killed a pregnant woman.
Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said: "We will use all the tools at our disposal and reach the murderers in order to hold them accountable."
- Calls for revenge -
Users of Palestinian Telegram channels sharing information on West Bank checkpoints reported many road closures in the north of the territory on Thursday.
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," one user said.
In the northern village of Tammun, Israeli troops killed five Palestinians in a raid the military described as targeting buildings suspected of being used to plan attacks.
"The occupation forces killed five young men after besieging a house in the centre of the village," Tammun mayor Samir Qteishat told AFP.
The Israeli military said "soldiers identified armed terrorists who barricaded themselves in a building."
"Following an exchange of fire, five terrorists were eliminated, and an additional terrorist was apprehended," it said.
The West Bank has seen an upsurge in violence since the beginning of the Gaza war.
J.Scott--SFF
