Dozens of people from the same family were killed in the Jabalia refugee camp, the Palestinian foreign minister said, as Israel continued to bombard the besieged Gaza Strip in the hours after a deal was agreed armistice This was expected to come into effect on Thursday.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Maliki said during a visit to London on Wednesday that 52 members of a family had been killed in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.

“This morning alone, 52 people from the Qadoura family in Jabalia were completely wiped out and killed,” he said.

“I have the list of names, 52 of them. They were completely wiped out from grandfather to grandchildren.”

In southern Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum said heavy attacks continued to take place ahead of Wednesday’s humanitarian pause.

“These areas are considered ‘safe places’ for those fleeing the north,” he said, after an Israeli strike “totally destroyed” a residential building in Khan Younis.

“But they experience the same level of Israeli bombing.”

Separately, in Khan Younis, the bodies of more than 100 Palestinians were buried in a mass grave, originally held at Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, which has been repeatedly raided by Israeli forces.

The agreement between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian armed group that rules Gaza, comes after a nearly seven-week war in the besieged territory that has killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands of others.

Key details of the deal remain unclear, but it is expected to include the release of 50 civilian hostages held in Gaza, the release of 150 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and a four-day freeze to hostilities in the Gaza Strip. The pause is expected to coincide with an influx of humanitarian aid into the besieged enclave.

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres called the agreement “an important step in the right direction,” but added that “much more needs to be done to end the suffering.”

The agreement, expected to come into force on Thursday morning, was welcomed by human rights groups and political leaders as a sign of possible progress toward ending fighting that began on October 7 when Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel that resulted in around 100,000 people died 1,200 peoplesaid Israeli officials.

Israeli authorities said most of the victims were civilians and that Palestinian armed groups also arrested about 240 other people caught during the attack.

Israel vowed to dismantle Hamas and launched a devastating attack on Gaza that Palestinian authorities say has wiped out entire neighborhoods and killed more than 14,500 people, including more than 5,600 Children.

In addition to the bombing, Israel also has Highly limited Supplies of food, electricity, fuel and water to Gaza’s more than 2.3 million residents are being disrupted, and international aid organizations are warning of a humanitarian catastrophe.

Medical officials have warned that the disease could spread in dire conditions contaminated water.

refugee camp, UN schoolsand hospitals housing displaced people have all been targeted, and a hint of humanitarian aid across the border crossing with Egypt has not been enough to ease the extent of the suffering.

Aid groups say a key concern is getting help to the northern Gaza Strip, which is largely inaccessible and where almost all hospitals have ceased operations during a devastating air and ground offensive by Israeli forces.

“The entire humanitarian sector is ready to expand once everything is sorted out,” said Tommaso Della Longa, a spokesman for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Israeli authorities have stressed that the temporary halt in fighting will not mean the end of the war.

“We are at war and we will continue the war until we achieve all of our goals: destroying Hamas, returning all of our hostages and ensuring that no entity in Gaza can threaten Israel,” the Israeli prime minister said Benjamin Netanyahu said in a recorded message.

Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said implementing the agreement was a “complex process that may take some time.”

Officials from Arab countries welcomed the ceasefire and said they hoped it could lead to further agreements in the future.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud also welcomed the ceasefire, but insisted that increased humanitarian aid resulting from the deal “must continue and expand.”

Qatari official Mohammed al-Khulaifi, who helped broker the deal, said he hoped the agreement would lead to a “larger agreement and a lasting ceasefire.”