Palestinian Territories (AFP) – 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.

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.

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 former 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.