Israeli strikes killed at least four people, including two children, in the Gaza Strip ‌on Thursday (July 30, 2026), health officials said, as mediators held new talks with Hamas leaders to work towards full ​implementation of a U.S.-brokered Gaza peace plan.

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A Hamas official and a diplomat close to Cairo talks with mediators said ⁠discussion were “positive” and “making progress”.

The diplomat said the negotiations were ongoing and making progress toward a roadmap that would see all heavy and light weapons in Gaza decommissioned.

Meanwhile, medics said an Israeli airstrike on a tent encampment in Khan Younis, in the south of the enclave, killed a man and ‌an eight-year-old girl.

In the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, an Israeli airstrike hit a house killing an 18-month-old child and wounding at least eight people, medics said.

Later on Thursday (July 30, 2026), an Israeli strike targeted ‌a Palestinian man on a bike near a tent encampment housing displaced families in Gaza City, killing one person and wounding ‌10 ⁠others.

The Israeli military said the strikes targeted Hamas militants, without providing further detail.

The latest deaths add to ⁠a toll of more than 1,200 Palestinians, mostly civilians, killed by Israeli attacks since the ceasefire took effect, according to Gaza health officials.

Hamas does not usually disclose its losses.

The truce halted full-scale fighting but has not ended near-daily Israeli strikes. Four Israeli soldiers have been killed by militants in Gaza since.

CAIRO TALKS

In Cairo, ​Hamas leaders were holding talks with mediators from Egypt, Qatar ‌and Turkey, over the implementation of the second phase of President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan, as presented to them by his Board of Peace, which oversees its implementation.

The plan called for a surge in humanitarian aid, governance by a civilian Palestinian administration, the disarmament of Hamas, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the deployment of an international force to help maintain ‌security.

But progress has stalled in previous months.

On Thursday (July 30, 2026), a Hamas official said the group was coming with a “positive ​and good” response, but he did not say whether the group had agreed to fully disarm — a key sticking point in the talks over the past four months.

Hamas wants Israel to commit to ending attacks ⁠on Gaza and withdrawing its forces.

Sources close to Hamas said the group was willing to “confine and store” heavy weapons under a Palestinian body, not hand them over to Israel. Hamas did not comment on the matter.

It is not yet clear what will happen regarding ‌light or personal weapons or whether the new Hamas stance would be accepted by Israel and the Board of Peace.

The diplomat involved in the talks said the roadmap under discussion in Cairo, in addition seeing all heavy and light weapons in Gaza decommissioned, would see authority transferred in phases to the U.S.-backed National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), with “no exceptions” and under the principle of “one authority, one law, one weapon”.

The diplomat said the plan includes the elimination of tunnels, weapons stockpiles and weapons production facilities, adding that by the end of the process there would be no remaining militant infrastructure in Gaza.

The diplomat described the roadmap as being based on reciprocal ‌steps rather than trust.

So far, the reality on the ground in Gaza remains far from this roadmap.

The Israeli military has continued to expand its military occupation ​of Gaza, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying that Israel intends to expand the area under its control to 70% of the enclave.

So far, NCAG has been based in Cairo without announcing a timeline for its ⁠entry into the strip.

It remains unclear how many forces would be available to deploy with the ISF, and whether Israeli troops would ⁠withdraw from the enclave.

The Board of Peace declined immediate comment on the Cairo talks.

Israel wants Hamas to cede power completely in Gaza and to fully disarm. Hamas dissolved a de facto Gaza government last month but maintained a caretaker body ‌to provide vital services to residents.

Israel effectively controls an estimated 64% of the tiny coastal Gaza Strip, bombed to ruins in its two-year military assault following a 2023 Hamas attack on southern Israel.

Nearly all of Gaza’s 2 million people now live ​on a sliver of land on the coast, mainly in makeshift tents or damaged buildings and facing dire living conditions, under Hamas control. (

Published – July 30, 2026 10:55 pm IST

Judith Tai Raanan and her daughter Natalie Shoshana Raanan, U.S. citizens who were taken as hostages by Palestinian Hamas militants, after they were released by the militants, on October 20, 2023.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Gaza’s Hamas rulers released two Americans on Friday among some 200 hostages they abducted in October 7 attacks in Israel and indicated that more could follow.

Judith Tai Raanan and her daughter Natalie Shoshana Raanan were back in Israel late Friday, the Israeli government said.

No details were given on their condition but U.S. President Joe Biden quickly said he was “overjoyed” at the news.

Hamas said it was working with Qatar and Egypt to free its “civilian” hostages, in a sign that more releases could follow.

The pair were met at the Gaza border by an Israeli envoy and the two women were taken to a military base in central Israel “where their families are waiting to meet them”.

The American mother and daughter were seized from the Nahal Oz kibbutz near the Israel-Gaza border on October 7. They were reportedly on holiday in Israel at the time.

Follow Israel-Hamas war, Day 14 LIVE updates here

The Ranaan family, like those of many of the hostages, had launched an international campaign to press for efforts to bring them out of Gaza.

Hamas said that following approaches by Qatar and Egypt “(Ezzedine) al-Qassam Brigades released two American citizens for humanitarian reasons.”

‘Sliver of hope’

Gaza’s Islamist rulers said they were “working with all mediators to implement the movement’s decision to close the civilian (hostage) file if appropriate security conditions allow.” It gave no details of its demands.

Israel says 203 people — Israelis, dual nationals and foreigners — were abducted by Hamas gunmen when they launched the deadliest attacks in Israel’s 75-year history. At least 1,400 people were killed, mostly civilians, according to the government.

Israel has responded with a relentless bombing campaign against the Gaza Strip that has left at least 4,137 people dead, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas administration.

The hostages have become a major issue in Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the government would use “any means available to locate all those missing and bring home all the kidnapped.”

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it helped transport the freed Americans to Israel.

Its president Mirjana Spoljaric said their release provided a “sliver of hope” for the families of other hostages and called on all sides in the conflict to show “a minimum of humanity”.

The release came two days after Mr. Biden made a solidarity visit to Israel to offer support over the attack.

Also read | Israel military confirms 199 hostages abducted by Hamas

“Our fellow citizens have endured a terrible ordeal these past 14 days, and I am overjoyed that they will soon be reunited with their family, who has been wracked with fear,” he said in a statement.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for more releases “immediately and unconditionally”.

Qatar is a major donor of aid to Gaza and two Hamas leaders are based in the Gulf state. A Qatari foreign ministry spokesman said the country had mediated between Hamas and the United States and that the release followed “many days of continuous communication between all the parties involved.

“We will continue our dialogue with both the Israelis and Hamas, and we hope these efforts will lead to the release of all civilian hostages from every nationality, with the ultimate aim of de-escalating the current crisis and restoring peace,” said the spokesman, Majid al-Ansari.

The Israeli military said earlier Friday that most of those abducted to Gaza were still alive even though some dead bodies have been found on incursions into Gaza.

The military said more than 20 hostages were minors, while between 10 and 20 were over the age of 60.

There are also between 100 and 200 people considered missing since the Hamas attacks, the army added.