Peace Board representative warns of risk of Gaza ceasefire collapse
Nikolay Mladenov, the High Representative of the Board of Peace for Gaza, criticized continued Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip and the actions of Hamas at a UN Security Council meeting. He warned that the collapse of the US-mediated ceasefire agreed in October could become a point of no return for the region, BBC News reports.
Dispute over disarmament
Mladenov's speech came after Israel rejected the Board of Peace's 15-point roadmap on Hamas disarmament, published last month. Hamas agreed to surrender its weapons in exchange for a phased withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. At the same time, Israel insists that the group must fully disarm before any troop withdrawal.
According to Mladenov, during his latest meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, they agreed on a mechanism to resolve the issues remaining for the Israeli government. Committees were also established for this purpose. The Board of Peace representative said that the process had not stopped, but the risks remained significant because of Palestinian civilian deaths caused by Israeli strikes.
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Losses and positions of the parties
Mladenov also noted that Hamas has not yet fully fulfilled its commitment to cease all military activity. Under the new roadmap, the withdrawal of Israeli troops is to take place after the verified decommissioning of Hamas weapons and their transfer to a Palestinian technocratic committee that will govern Gaza under the supervision of the Board of Peace.
Israel's representative to the Security Council said that the country remains committed to the US-backed October plan to end the war, but stressed that it cannot be implemented as long as Hamas has weapons, tunnels and other military infrastructure. The Palestinian representative, for his part, accused Israel of killing civilians in Gaza with impunity and called on the international community to protect them urgently.
According to Gaza's Hamas-controlled Health Ministry, at least 1,303 Palestinians, including 300 children, have been killed in Israeli attacks since the start of the ceasefire. The UN considers these figures reliable. The Israeli military reported that four of its soldiers had been killed in Palestinian attacks in Gaza during the same period.
