Board of Peace envoy says stalled ceasefire hinges on disarmament of Hamas

Nickolay Mladenov, the top out diplomatist overseeing the U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Gaza, said wed the truce hinged on Hamas' disarmament, a sticking repoint that has stalled come on on other fronts, including rebuilding the mostly destroyed enclave.

The high representative for U.S. President Donald Trump's International Board of Peace in Gaza, Mladenov, said months without progress implementing the deal benefited neither Israel nor Palestinians. He said the phased deal was paralyzed over Hamas not yet disarming, calling it "not negotiable."

International mediators have long said disarmament is core to the ceasefire, to which Hamas has agreed, but no significant progress has been made toward it. The Palestinian militant group has sought to link any demilitarization to Israeli troop pullbacks. Israel's military remains in control of more than half of Gaza.

"The only way that we believe that we can ensure that Israeli withdrawal takes place to the perimeter is if we have the full element of the plan unfolding in Gaza," Mladenov said at a rare news conference in Jerusalem.

Mladenov stated plainly that the plan envisioned in the ceasefire was off to a rocky start. He also said conditions remain dire and miserable for the more than two million people in Gaza. He accused both sides of violating the ceasefire but said it had mostly held and staved off the return of full-scale war.

Disarmament is among the most challenging elements of the ceasefire. Hamas, whose founding charter calls for armed resistance against Israel, has been reluctant to give up its arsenal, including rockets, anti-tank missiles, and explosives.

Gaza ceasefire at 6 months: Israel, Hamas still fighting, Gazans still starving

Mladenov did not answer questions about what could lie ahead for Gaza in the absence of disarmament. He criticized Hamas for consolidating power in parts of Gaza under its control, saying it hoped "to squeeze better terms of a negotiation."

He also said that he could envision a role for Hamas in postwar Gaza if it disarms.

"We are not asking Hamas to disappear as a political movement," Mladenov told reporters.

Israeli leaders have said they want to destroy the militant group that has governed Gaza for two decades and orchestrated the attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's ensuing offensive has killed more than 72,724 Palestinians, including some 850 since a ceasefire took hold last October, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.

Mladenov's remarks came as the Board of Peace faces scrutiny, with efforts to advance the phased ceasefire stalled.

The truce envisioned Hamas handing over its weapons, Israeli forces withdrawing and rebuilding destroyed swaths of the coastal enclave after more than two years of war.

Instead, the seven months since the ceasefire have seen Israel and Hamas trade accusations of violations. Aid groups say Israel has not allowed the promised amount of aid in. Hamas has not disarmed and remains in control of roughly half the strip.

Trump's 20-point plan says that all of Hamas' "military, terror and offensive infrastructure, including tunnels and weapon production facilities" in Gaza must be destroyed. It also says that weapons must be placed "permanently beyond use."

Israel and the U.S. Say this language is clear and that Hamas must surrender all of its weapons.

Hamas has sought to differentiate between "heavy" weapons, such as rockets, and "light" weapons like rifles and pistols, Hamas officials and mediators say, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the negotiations.

Meanwhile, a new report says that Israel has escalated its attacks in Gaza in the five weeks since halting its joint bombing with the U.S. In Iran, redirecting its fire back on the decimated Palestinian enclave.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, 120 Palestinians, including eight women and 13 children, were killed in Gaza since the Iran war was paused on April 8 — 20 per cent more than in the five weeks prior when Israel was flying sorties over Iran.

Conflict monitor ACLED, which tracks Israeli attacks in Gaza, said in a monthly report for April that Israel had carried out 35 per cent more attacks last month than in March.

"The war is still ongoing," said Lafi Al-Najjar, 36, a blind Palestinian, one of whose sons was killed on April 28 in an Israeli attack.

"It stopped in the announcement, but in reality and on the ground, the war has not stopped," said Najjar, whose family have been living in a tented camp in the ruins of Khan Younis, once Gaza's second-largest city.

The Israeli military did not immediately provide comment on the reasons for its stepped-up strikes in Gaza. But four Israeli defence officials have told Reuters that the military had warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government in recent weeks that Hamas has been tightening its grip, rebuilding its forces and making weapons.

Gaza ceasefire at 6 months: Israel, Hamas still fighting, Gazans still starving

Another Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Gaza ceasefire allows for Israel to act against imminent threats. The official said the military was prepared for any scenario, including having drawn up wider battle plans for a resumption of fighting in Gaza, though no such order had yet been given.

Nasser Khdour, a researcher with ACLED, said that over roughly 30 separate incidents in April, Israel carried out attacks targeting Hamas, other militant groups, police personnel and police stations, and security checkpoints.

Most of those attacks took place in areas under Hamas control, "while shelling, drone strikes, and gunfire continued to take place near the [armistice line], targeting militants and civilians, including women and children, approaching soldiers," Khdour said.

---

---