Mladenov says Gaza truce stalled

Nickolay Mladenov said on Wednesday that the Gaza ceasefire had effectively frozen at its hardest point: whether Hamas will disarm. Speaking in Jerusalem, the Bulgarian diplomat overseeing the U.S.-brokered truce said the impasse had blocked reconstruction, delayed further Israeli troop withdrawals and left the postwar plan stuck seven months after the ceasefire took effect. (pbs.org) He said his office was handling violations by both sides every day and described conditions in Gaza as still severe for nearly all of the territory’s 2 million residents. ACLED, the conflict monitor, reported separately that Israeli attacks in Gaza rose 35% in April from March. ### What exactly did Mladenov say is holding up the truce? Nickolay Mladenov said the central obstacle was Hamas’ refusal so far to surrender its weapons. (pbs.org) He described disarmament as “not negotiable” and said progress on reconstruction, Israeli withdrawals and the formation of a new Palestinian administration was being held up by that dispute. Jerusalem was the setting for those remarks after Mladenov met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Mladenov said the plan could not move forward if armed groups remained in the streets, in tunnels and in weapons depots, and he warned that without movement on that issue Gaza faced prolonged hardship. (pbs.org) ### Does the plan require Hamas to disappear from politics? Nickolay Mladenov did not frame the issue as the elimination of Hamas from Palestinian political life. Coverage of his remarks said he could envision a political role for Hamas in postwar Gaza if the group disarmed, separating the question of political participation from the question of armed control. (pbs.org) The U.S.-brokered framework, as previously outlined by Associated Press reporting carried by PBS, is aimed at ending Hamas’ armed rule in Gaza rather than barring every Hamas-linked figure from future Palestinian institutions. That plan pairs demilitarization with a technocratic administration and international oversight. (pbs.org) ### What was supposed to happen in the next phase of the deal? The ceasefire plan calls for Israeli forces to withdraw further, Hamas to hand over weapons, an international security force to deploy and a technocratic Palestinian government to take over civilian administration in Gaza. Mladenov said those elements were meant to unfold together, not in isolation. (aljazeera.com) January 11 reporting by PBS said Hamas had said it would dissolve its Gaza government once a new technocratic leadership committee took over, but the group gave no timetable. That report also said the Board of Peace was supposed to oversee disarmament and deployment of an international security force, while the board’s membership had still not been publicly announced at that time. (pbs.org) ### What is happening on the ground while talks are stuck? ACLED said on May 13 that Israeli attacks in Gaza increased 35% in April compared with March. Al Jazeera, citing Gaza’s Health Ministry, said at least 120 Palestinians had been killed in Israeli attacks since April 8, when the U.S.-Israel war on Iran paused, and said about 850 Palestinians had been killed since the October ceasefire took effect. (pbs.org) Rafah remains a focal point of the humanitarian strain. The International Committee of the Red Cross said last week that its field hospital in Rafah had just been upgraded with imported materials but added that one field hospital could not meet the scale of Gaza’s medical needs. The ICRC said the 60-bed hospital has carried out more than 11,300 surgeries and 250,000 consultations since opening in May 2024. (pbs.org) ### Why does Israeli withdrawal remain tied to the disarmament issue? Mladenov said the ceasefire’s sequencing was designed so that Israeli withdrawal to the perimeter would occur only as the other parts of the plan were implemented. He said the “full elements” of the agreement had to unfold in Gaza for that withdrawal to happen. (aljazeera.com) December reporting on the plan’s second phase said Hamas had opposed attempts by an international force to disarm it, while the force itself had not yet been formed and no deployment date had been announced. That left the enforcement mechanism for the ceasefire’s most contentious provision unresolved even before Mladenov’s latest warning. (icrcnewsroom.org) ### What comes next in practical terms? The next concrete steps remain the same ones already written into the ceasefire framework: naming or empowering a technocratic Palestinian administration, assembling the international security force and securing agreement on Hamas’ weapons. Mladenov said on May 13 that seven months after the ceasefire, the promised future for Gaza was still not open. (pbs.org) Future talks are expected to keep involving Israel, Hamas, the United States and regional mediators including Egypt and Qatar. PBS reported earlier that Hamas planned contacts with Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish officials on the second phase, while partner countries were holding meetings on the international force’s operations. (pbs.org 1) (pbs.org 2) (pbs.org 3)