Eight of the 26 hostages that Hamas is expected to release in the coming few weeks are no longer alive, according to Israeli officials.
Late on Sunday, Hamas provided Israel with long-awaited information about the status of the hostages listed for release during the first phase of the cease-fire agreement in the Gaza war. The move followed intense negotiations over the weekend to resolve a dispute that had threatened to derail the deal.
Under the cease-fire deal, 33 hostages were to be released in the first phase in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Seven have already returned home, after more than 15 months in captivity in Gaza. Three civilian women were freed on Jan. 19, the day the provisional cease-fire came into effect, and four female soldiers were released on Jan. 25.
An Israeli government spokesman, David Mencer, said on Monday that Hamas had provided a list indicating that 25 of the 33 hostages were alive and that eight had been killed.
“The list from Hamas matches Israel’s intelligence,” Mr. Mencer added.
The list did not specify who was alive and who was dead by name, but it provided numbers that accorded with more detailed information already in Israel’s hands, according to two Israeli officials.
The Israeli authorities have spoken with the families of the 26 hostages set to be released in the coming weeks after Hamas provided its account, according to the government, though confirmation of the deaths in the form of bodies or DNA evidence is still pending. As a result, eight families of hostages have been told so far only that there is a high probability that their relatives will not return alive.
Speaking at the Israeli Parliament on Tuesday, Dani Elgarat, brother of the hostage Itzik Elgarat, said that the family was probably going to receive his body based on what they had been told so far. Had a cease-fire deal been reached earlier, Mr. Elgarat told lawmakers, he believed that his brother’s life could have been saved.
Israel has said that 87 hostages remain in Gaza out of a total of about 250 captured during the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which prompted the war. Another three have been held by Hamas since 2014, and two of them are believed to be alive. Israeli officials have said they believe that at least 35 of the total 90 remaining captives are dead.
Israel had demanded the release of what it considered the most urgent cases in the first phase of the deal: civilian women, followed by female soldiers, then men aged over 50 and several younger men who were sick or injured, with priority given to those still alive.
The dispute over the weekend was caused by Hamas’s failure to release a civilian woman, Arbel Yehud, on Saturday. Israel accused Hamas of violating the terms of the cease-fire by releasing four female soldiers first and responded by delaying the return of displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza.
Under a new understanding reached via mediators late Sunday, Hamas agreed to release Ms. Yehud before Friday, along with the last female soldier held in Gaza, Agam Berger, and a third hostage who has not yet been named by Israel. Three more hostages are expected to be released on Saturday.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a smaller armed group that says it has been holding Ms. Yehud, released a video of her on Monday as proof of life.
Ms. Yehud is the last female civilian hostage believed to be still alive.
Another civilian woman, Shiri Bibas, remains in Gaza after she was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz with her two young sons, Ariel, who was 4 at the time, and Kfir, who was 9 months. The Israeli military has expressed grave concern for the lives of Ms. Bibas and her children, though their deaths have not been confirmed.
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