Eight of the remaining hostages set to be released by Hamas in the first phase of a ceasefire agreement with Israel are dead, according to an Israeli government spokesperson.

The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas has handed over to mediators a list showing that 25 Israeli hostages are still alive, out of 33 scheduled for release, an official of the group told Reuters on Monday.

Hamas provided Israel with long-awaited information about the status of the hostages listed for release during the first phase of the ceasefire agreement in the war in the Gaza Strip. The move followed intense negotiations over the weekend to resolve a dispute that had threatened to derail the deal.

Tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians began returning home to northern Gaza on Monday, bracing for what awaits them in a region that has been reduced to rubble by months of brutal bombardment and fighting.

Crowds of displaced Palestinians made the arduous journey back to heavily destroyed northern Gaza for a second day Tuesday, under a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians streamed into Gaza’s most heavily destroyed area on Monday after Israel opened the north for the first time since the early weeks of the war with Hamas, a dramatic reversal of their exodus 15 months ago.