More than 500,000 people have returned to Gaza City since a ceasefire took effect in the Palestinian enclave on Friday, Gaza Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Bassal said on Saturday.

According to the Israeli newspaper The Times of Israel, the footage shows Palestinians returning to Gaza City, with many of them waving Palestinian and Egyptian flags.

Many displaced people were shocked by the extent of the destruction, while others were relieved to find their homes still standing, AFP reported.

A previous statement by the authority, which operates under the leadership of the militant movement Hamas, said that about 200,000 Palestinians had returned to the north of the war-torn Gaza Strip.

Bassal said rescue workers were now focusing on finding the bodies of those who lost their lives during the war, adding that up to 10,000 people could be buried under the rubble.

Gaza City has been officially in famine since August, and according to a recent report by investigators from the UN Human Rights Council, Israel is committing genocide in the Palestinian territories with the intent to destroy the Palestinian people.

They reject disarmament.

Hamas expects"difficulties" in negotiations on the second phase of US President Donald Trump's peace plan for the Gaza Strip.

However, in the event of its failure or a renewed outbreak of hostilities, it is ready to fight, Hamas political bureau member Hossam Badran told AFP.

The second phase of Trump's 20-point plan, which calls for the disarmament of Hamas, the exile of its fighters, and the continuation of Israel's gradual withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, is fraught with pitfalls, Badran said, as is evident from its points themselves.

Badran, for example, called the proposal for Hamas members to leave the Gaza Strip absurd. The plan assumes that those who decide to hand over their weapons and commit to peaceful coexistence will be allowed to remain in Gaza.

Those interested in leaving should be given safe passage to countries willing to accept them. It also does not require Palestinians to leave the Gaza Strip; they can do so if they wish and return freely.

"Talking about expelling Palestinians, whether they are members of Hamas or not, from their land is absurd and meaningless," said Badran, who is based in Qatar, like many other members of Hamas' political bureau.

An unnamed senior Hamas official previously told AFP that Hamas' disarmament, planned as part of the peace plan, was out of the question and not even a subject of negotiations.

Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement agreed on Thursday in Egypt to a ceasefire that took effect on Friday and involves the exchange of 48 Israeli hostages, both dead and alive, held in the Gaza Strip for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.

The exchange is to take place within 72 hours of the completion of the withdrawal of Israeli troops to pre-determined lines in the Gaza Strip, a phase that the Israeli army completed on Friday afternoon.

Reaching an agreement will be difficult

The BBC predicts that many points in the next phases of the peace plan will likely be difficult to reach agreement on.

For example, the plan calls for the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, the destruction of all"military, terrorist and offensive infrastructure," and also that Hamas will not participate in any future government in the enclave - directly or indirectly.

Hamas has so far agreed to only some parts of the plan, and is still negotiating others. For example, the movement rejects the demand for complete disarmament.

Hamas is ready to"halt" the use of its weapons, not give them up completely, according to Egypt. The movement has submitted a proposal to Israel that it will not use its weapons for five to ten years.