The U.S. official overseeing President Donald Trump’s Gaza cease-fire plan criticized Israel on Wednesday over its continued attacks on the devastated Palestinian territory, warning that failure to advance Washington’s proposal could pave the way for another war.
Nikolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace high representative, insisted to 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.”
The Palestinian resistance group Hamas has agreed to the proposal’s key provision to disarm and turn Gaza over to civilian rule, he said. But Israel’s ongoing strikes since last October’s cease-fire are still killing Palestinians - though much fewer - and Gazans can’t feel that the conflict is ending, he said.
"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. deal with Hamas to disarm was seen as a potential breakthrough to end the war. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his forces won’t withdraw from their current lines in Gaza until Hamas has handed over all its weapons.
