A spokesman for the armed wing of Hamas says the group is postponing the next scheduled release of Israeli hostages, blaming what he says are Israeli violations of the ceasefire deal.

Three hostages held in Gaza are due to be freed on Saturday in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.

Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz called the Hamas announcement a "complete violation of the ceasefire agreement".

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.

As a fragile ceasefire held into a second week, Israel was told by Hamas that eight of the hostages to be freed during the deal’s first phase are dead.

Thousands of Palestinians are streaming back into the northern Gaza Strip on Monday after Israel lifted its closure as part of the ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas. 

Starting at 7 a.m. local time, Palestinians were allowed to cross on foot without inspection via a coastal road passing through part of a military zone bisecting the territory just south of Gaza City that Israel carved out early in the war. A checkpoint for vehicles opened later on Gaza's main north-south highway, where traffic was backed up for around two miles. 

Tens of thousands of Palestinians began moving along the main roads leading north in Gaza on Monday as Israel opened roadblocks after the militant group Hamas agreed to hand over female Israeli hostage Arbel Yehud and two other hostages.

Television images showed large crowds on the move and witnesses said the first residents arrived in Gaza City in the early morning after the first crossing point in central Gaza opened at 7.00 a.m (0500 GMT). Another crossing was due to open at 9.00 a.m.

Four female Israeli soldiers who were taken in the attack that sparked the war in Gaza returned to Israel on Saturday after Hamas militants paraded them before a crowd of thousands in Gaza City and handed them over to the Red Cross. Israel later released 200 Palestinian prisoners in the second exchange of a fragile ceasefire.

A twisted propaganda video Hamas terrorists published in an attempt to spin the four hostages’ release Saturday in a celebratory light after they were held 477 days in captivity was slammed by the Israel Defense Forces as cruel.

The two-minute, 53-second clip, released by the terror group’s Al-Qassam Brigades military wing, shows the four soldiers — Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy and Liri Albag — dressed in military-style garb and seated in a white SUV, where they are given framed certificates with their “prisoner release form,” as well as a keychain and “gift bags.”

As the ceasefire and hostage deal moves forward, Israel's Security Cabinet continues to weigh whether it can afford to withdraw IDF forces in Lebanon. Meanwhile, critics warn that the centrality of the hostage issue could hand the Palestinians the ultimate victory in the Gaza war.

Hostage Release and Ceasefire Developments

Israeli officials believe that Hamas will provide Israel with the names of four hostages scheduled for release on Saturday. Following the initial phase of the ceasefire agreement, under which three Israeli hostages were freed last Saturday.

The Israeli-occupied West Bank has erupted in celebrations after 90 Palestinian prisoners, most of them women, were released from Israeli jails as part of an Israel-Hamas ceasefire.

Families in the West Bank waited until early on Monday to receive their loved ones, most of whom had been detained without charge.

The ceasefire, which ended Israel’s more than 15-month war on Gaza, also saw the release of three Israeli captives. More captives and prisoners are expected to be released in the coming weeks.

Israel has freed 90 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, more than seven hours after three Israeli hostages were released by Hamas and returned to Israel.

A large bus carrying dozens of Palestinian detainees exited the gates of Israel’s Ofer prison in the early hours of Monday morning, just outside the West Bank city of Ramallah.

According to a list provided by the Palestinian Authority's Commission for Prisoners' Affairs, all of those released are women or minors.