UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The official overseeing the U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Gaza urged the U.N. Security Council on Thursday to use “every means at its disposal” to press Hamas to disarm, warning that every act of violence in the Palestinian territory risks “unraveling” the agreement.
Nickolay Mladenov, high representative of the Board of Peace, an international body established by President Donald Trump, said Israel must also uphold its obligations under the October ceasefire, pointing to the killings of Palestinians and restrictions on the flow of humanitarian aid.
The choice before Hamas and Israel is either “a deteriorating status quo” or a new beginning for Palestinians now waiting “in desperate conditions,” he said. “There is no third option. There never was, and the people of Gaza should not be made to wait while some pretend that there is.”
Mladenov was expanding on the first report by the Board of Peace, which said the main obstacle to full implementation of the ceasefire remains “Hamas’ refusal to accept verified decommissioning, relinquish coercive control, and permit a genuine civilian transition in Gaza.”
Hamas, in a statement, criticized the new report and said it ignored Israel’s failure to comply with the terms of the ceasefire.
The Palestinian militant group, which led the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza, has sought to link any demilitarization to Israeli troop pullbacks. Israel’s military has expanded its control of Gaza since the truce took effect and now controls some 60% of the territory.
Mladenov, a veteran Bulgarian diplomat, said if Israel and Hamas refuse to accept the roadmap to implement Trump’s peace plan, the Board of Peace will discuss ways to provide humanitarian relief and promote recovery in the territory.
If nothing is done, he said, Gaza will remain divided with Hamas holding administrative and military control over 2 million Palestinians who can live in less than half of the Gaza Strip and are likely to remain trapped in rubble, needing aid and without hope of reconstruction or a future for their children.
“This is a version of the future that Israelis, Palestinians and the region should all fear and all mobilize to avoid,” Mladenov said.
He said the decommissioning of weapons “will be gradual, sequenced and time-bound against an agreed timetable” — and that weapons from Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups will not be transferred to Israel but to the transitional administration in Gaza.
The roadmap deserves the Security Council’s “clear, consistent and unequivocal support,” he said.
“I ask the council to use every means at its disposal to urge Hamas to accept the roadmap without further delay, and Israel to uphold its obligations under the ceasefire,” Mladenov said. “Diplomacy must continue, cannot be used as an excuse for delay while 2 million people wait in desperate conditions.”
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. ambassador, did not directly address the disarmament of Hamas but said all parties must abide by their commitments under the ceasefire agreement. He said it offered an opportunity to end the conflict and ensure “peace, security and prosperity for Palestinians, Israelis and the wider region.”
“International law is not optional,” Mansour said. “There should be only one path, compliance or enforcement.”
Israel’s deputy U.N. ambassador Jonathan Miller said the Security Council is under a “dangerous illusion … that diplomacy can succeed while terrorist organizations are allowed to hold diplomacy hostage.”
He accused Hamas of using diplomatic negotiations to consolidate control in Gaza and rebuild its weapons stocks. “This is not a political organization transitioning towards diplomacy – it is a terrorist army preserving its capacity for the next war,” Miller said.
Shortly after Mladenov briefed the council, the heads of three major humanitarian organizations told U.N. reporters that the board’s report was not an honest portrayal of the circumstances on the ground in Gaza and obscured the reality that Palestinians face daily despite the ceasefire.
Jeremy Konyndyk, the president of Refugees International, said the “easiest parts” of the peace plan — full and undeterred aid access — have not been carried out.
“The people of Gaza cannot wait for more Security Council briefings and for more deliberations in New York,” Konyndyk said. “They need action now. They have needed action for a very long time. And the international community needs to decide what it actually stands for.”
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Farnoush Amiri contributed to this report.