UNITED NATIONS (AP) , The official overseeing President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan for Gaza took aim at Israel on Wednesday over its ongoing strikes on the war-ravaged Palestinian territory, cautioning that failure to embrace the U.S. proposal would lead to another war.
Nikolay Mladenov, who serves as the Board of Peace high representative, told the U.N. Security Council that Trump’s 20-point plan has not stalled and “has moved from the negotiating table to the engineering table.”
He noted the militant group Hamas has agreed to the plan’s central provision to disarm and hand Gaza over to civilian rule. However, he said, Israeli strikes that have continued since last October’s ceasefire are still claiming Palestinian lives , though at a far lower rate , and residents cannot sense that the fighting is coming to an end.
“After three years of war and 20 years of military operations, I ask, will another strike on a munitions depot stop Hamas from rearming or tightening its grip on Gaza?” Mladenov said. “It will not. It only delays the demilitarization that would happen” and obstructs the transfer to a civilian government.
A recent U.S. agreement with Hamas to disarm was viewed as a possible breakthrough to end the war, which was triggered by the militant group’s deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in southern Israel. Yet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that they will not pull back from their present positions in Gaza until Hamas has surrendered all of its weapons.
Mladenov said that during a meeting he attended last week with Netanyahu and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, “we went through his government’s concerns one by one and narrowed the areas that still require technical work.”
Noa Furman, Israel’s deputy U.N. ambassador, reaffirmed to the Security Council his country’s dedication to Trump’s plan, but emphasized that it cannot succeed while Hamas remains armed. He said Israel is collaborating closely with the U.S. to secure Hamas’ disarmament.
U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz said concerns about Trump’s plan are being addressed and that Hamas’ disarmament will be evaluated based on its actions.
Mladenov cautioned about the gap between the roadmap and conditions on the ground, warning that if war reignites, there will be no roadmap to fall back on or anything left standing to rebuild.
“That would not be a setback,” he said. “it would be a point of no return for everyone.”
Mladenov underscored the need for political determination to bridge the remaining differences and said there is a choice that must be made: “A Gaza disarmed, rebuilt and reconnected to the world. Or a Gaza rearmed, divided and in rubble, with a radicalized generation raised inside it and the next war already on the horizon.”
Regarding the Palestinians, Mladenov said the Trump plan provides a “credible pathway to a political horizon” and a two-state solution to the long-standing conflict. Netanyahu strongly opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state.