The Gaza ceasefire could reach a “point of no return” if fighting resumes, the US-backed Board of Peace's High Representative for Gaza told the UN Security Council on Wednesday, as efforts to implement a deal to disarm Hamas face mounting obstacles.
Nickolay Mladenov said Hamas and other Palestinian factions had agreed on July 30 to hand over their weapons but warned that violence in Gaza continues.
“The ceasefire holds and casualties have fallen sharply but they have not stopped,” he said. “A ceasefire under which civilians are still buried is not yet one the people of Gaza can feel.”
He said Hamas and the armed factions in Gaza had agreed to hand over their weapons and to transfer full governing authority to a transitional administration recognised by the UN.
Under the road map agreed on by Hamas, the decommissioning of weapons would take place under international supervision, with the International Stabilisation Force supporting verification.
The ISF, which is preparing for deployment, is led by US Maj Gen Jasper Jeffers.
Hamas has pledged to surrender its weapons to the new Palestinian governing body, an arrangement that has drawn scepticism from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but which US President Donald Trump has hailed as a breakthrough.
But Mr Netanyahu, facing a tough re-election fight, earlier this month publicly rejected the latest part of the US plan aimed at ending the Gaza war.
“Gaza does not have another catastrophe left in it,” Mr Mladenov said. “If this ceasefire collapses … that would not be a setback. It would be a point of no return for everyone.”
Athena Rayburn, executive director of the Association of International Development Agencies, criticised the US -backed Gaza framework, telling the council the creation of new institutions should be judged on whether they improve conditions for Palestinians.
“What is evident is that with the operationalisation of the Gaza Board of Peace, the rights of Palestinians in Gaza have been made subordinate to the far-reaching, capricious and arbitrary requirements of its occupier. This is untenable,” she said.
US ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, hit out at Ms Rayburn for failing to address alleged abuse by Hamas.
“After hearing Ms Rayburn’s briefing, it’s quite disturbing to hear a representative of civil society at this council ignore UN reports, including by the commission of inquiry, frankly no friend of Israel over the years, with repeated and credible reports of torture by Hamas,” Mr Waltz said.
“Not a word of other reports on Hamas using hospitals as human shields, building tunnels and command centres under schools.”
Mr Waltz also accused Hamas leaders of avoiding the hunger faced by civilians in Gaza.
“Hamas fighters aren’t starving,” Mr Waltz said. “You don’t see their leadership starving. You don’t see their wives, who are carrying Birkin bags on camera, they’re not starving.”
Israeli deputy envoy to the UN, Jonathan Miller, said Israel was committed to Mr Trump's peace plan, “but the plan cannot succeed while Hamas remains armed. Disarmament must come first,” he added.
