The health ministry in Gaza says dozens of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli strikes ahead of a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel.

Meanwhile, Israel has accused Hamas of backtracking on the agreement, with a planned cabinet vote on the deal pushed back.

Hamas says it is committed to a deal, but the BBC’s Rushdi Abualouf hears the group is attempting a last-minute push for the release of one or two symbolic prisoners from its movement.

One attack on a house near the Engineers Union Building in Gaza City in the north of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday night killed at least 18 people, Al Jazeera Arabic’s correspondent reported.

The Palestinian Civil Defence also said it retrieved the bodies of 12 people from Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood.

In central Gaza, five people were killed in an Israeli drone strike that targeted a gathering of people in the Karaj area in the Bureij camp.

The death toll, which was counted from dawn on Wednesday, continued to rise as Palestinians returned to shelter in their tents after briefly celebrating news of a ceasefire deal that was reached between Israel and Hamas on Wednesday evening.

“For a couple of hours, people turned this whole area into a stage of celebration, something we are not used to seeing here as this area used to be a stage for funerals for the victims of the war and a space filled with agony and sadness,” said Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.

But the ceasefire does not start until Sunday and people in Gaza fear worse is to come before the Israeli bombing stops, Mahmoud said.

“We are expecting a surge in attacks by drones and heavy artillery, and that’s what caused people to end the celebrations after two hours,” he said.

Al Jazeera’s Anas al-Sharif, reporting from Gaza City, said intense Israeli attacks there had “extinguished” the joy people felt at the initial announcement of the ceasefire.

“Just hours ago there was an atmosphere of joy and relief among residents here when the ceasefire announcement was made from Doha, stating that it would take effect in the coming days,” al-Sharif said.

“However, immediately after the announcement, Israeli warplanes extinguished that joy for the people – striking hospitals, shelters, and homes with direct air strikes.”

Both Israel and Hamas have publicly acknowledged a ceasefire and captive exchange deal has been reached, although Israel has said some final details are still to be hashed out before the agreement is sealed.

In a statement, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had spoken with Israel’s negotiating team in Doha at dawn on Thursday, who briefed him on disagreements with Hamas related to which Palestinian prisoners will be released in exchange for captives during the first phase of the deal.

As of January 1, 2025, there are at least 10, 221 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, excluding the unknown numbers of Palestinians taken from Gaza and detained by the military, including Dr Hussam Abu Safia, the director of north Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, which was destroyed by Israeli forces.

Izzat al-Risheq, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, earlier said the ceasefire deal met all of the Palestinian group’s conditions including the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, the return of displaced people to their homes, and a permanent end to war in the enclave.

The exact time the ceasefire is due to start on Sunday is not yet known, though the entire process will be implemented in three phases.

Recall that Hamas attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 back to Gaza as hostages

The attack triggered a massive Israeli offensive on Gaza, during which more than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Reynolds Construction Company of Nigeria, RCC has been handling the over 1,000 kilometre road project, stretching from Akwa Ibom to Lagos, and criss-crossing four other states of Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, and Edo.

With the completion of the Akwa Ibom section of the East-West road in 2023, the construction giant was expected to have completed the remaining aspects of the project, from the Onne junction down to Mbiama, Warri and Edo axis of the road late last year.

The latest incident happened last Monday night, at the Okulu-Aleto Bridge in the Eleme local government area of Rivers state, where a white Hilux vehicle belonging to the state government owned Cassava Project Limited, in an attempt to escape the pursuit by alleged kidnappers skidded off the uncomplicated bridge into the river with its occupants, believed to be company workers.

Following an intensive search by a combined team of the Navy, the Police and other specialist agencies, the lifeless body of Mr. Gibson Reuben, a Netherlands National and Managing Director of the Cassava factory and the Toyota White Hilux, have been recovered, about 24 hours after the incident.

The Southern Examiner gathered that immediately on receiving reports of the attack, culminating in the incident, the Chairman of Eleme local government area, Chief Brain Gokpa mobilised officials of the Navy and other rescue operations team as well security personnel in search of the vehicle and its occupants.

Reports say with over N33 billion already sunk into the project, it remains to be seen the extent to which the project had been executed, with travellers on the road being exposed to grave danger of Kidnappings and armed robbery.

Julius Berger Plc, which had initially pulled out of site due to incessant attacks and threats to the lives of their company workers, especially foreigners by Niger Delta militants, are said to have returned and handled parts of Delta, Edo down to the Lagos end of the East-West road project.

In recent times, following the snail-speed of the construction work, there have been increasing cases of accidents, armed robbery, and kidnappings on the Onne axis of the road, leading to Ogoni, as well as the Andoni and Opobo local government areas.

It was gathered that since the commencement of work on the reconstructed bridge, and considering the deplorable condition of the bridge head, kidnappers have turned the area to a death trap where their victims are Kidnapped and ferried away across the river to an unknown destination before asking for ransom from their families.

The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Olugbenga Adepolu, with his team, rushed to the accident scene on Tuesday morning for an on the spot assessment of the situation, and immediately ordered an investigation into the incident with a view to bringing the perpetrators of the heinous crime to justice.

The Southern Examiner reports that since his assumption of office in Port Harcourt as the Commissioner of Police in Rivers State, the Eleme-White Hilux vehicle incident may appear to be his litmus test in his capability for tackling crimes in the state.

Mr. Adepolu who also mobilised the police rescue team to join in the search for the vehicle and the bodies of the occupants, spoke through his Public Relations Officer, PPRO, SP Grace Iringi-Koko, that the mobile police personnel attached to the foreigner, escaped alive.

Impressed by the proactive reaction of the Eleme Council chairmen towards the incident, the police commissioner was full of praise to him. It was learnt that the Netherlands National drove the Toyota White Hilux vehicle that plunged into the river.

Residents and travellers along the road linking the newly rebuilt Port Harcourt Refinery, the Onne Seaports, and other federal government facilities have bemoaned the deplorable condition of the Onne, Eleme axis of the East-West road.

Mr. Joseph Obele and Pastor Peter Hanco, both chairman and secretary of property owners along the Expressway, alleged that the delay in the completion of the East-West road was intentional and a clear display of incompetence, insisting that their action negates the terms of the contractual agreement on the project.

Besides, the property owners officials, who also hailed from Eleme, said the action of the construction giant was an act of sabotage to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope agenda, and urged the federal government to ensure the quick completion of the road.

Governor Similaiye Joseph Fubara of Rivers State yesterday reacted to the tragic incident involving an agricultural expert who was engaged by the state government to boost the state agricultural agenda.

The governor expressed worry that such an unfortunate development could still happen in the state at a time when everyone was concerned about the development and production of foodstuffs.

After observing a minute of silence in honour of the Netherlands National during the Armed forces’ remembrance day yesterday, the governor who was visibly pain by the death of Mr. Reuben, in an attempt to escape from kidnappers, announced that his administration would thoroughly investigate the incident.