The Board of Peace’s Gaza envoy briefed the UN Security Council on the status of the US-run body’s efforts to rebuild Gaza on Wednesday, touting Hamas’s acceptance of a disarmament plan while effectively acknowledging that progress has since stalled amid Israel’s rejection of the proposal.
Nickolay Mladenov took particular issue with Israeli restrictions on shelter supplies for Palestinians living in squalid conditions in the Strip, while also calling out Jerusalem’s policy of continued strikes in Gaza, arguing that they have not, and will not, lead to Hamas’s disarmament.
At the same time, he criticized the terror group for not fulfilling its own commitments under the disarmament plan, which required both sides to halt all military activities.
An Arab diplomat from one of the mediating countries told The Times of Israel earlier this month that the Board of Peace has been leaning on Hamas to cease deploying armed and uniformed men on the streets of Gaza. Those shows of force have intensified since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s public rejection of the disarmament plan, which would see Israel gradually withdraw from Gaza.
Netanyahu argued that the proposal accepted by Hamas on July 30 won’t actually lead to Hamas’s disarmament and declared that Jerusalem will therefore not adhere to its required phased pullouts from the Strip.
