Gaza ceasefire stalls over disarmament

Nickolay Mladenov said on May 13 that the U.S.-brokered Gaza ceasefire has stalled over Hamas’s disarmament, leaving reconstruction, Israeli troop withdrawals and plans for a new Palestinian administration stuck in place. The envoy, speaking in Jerusalem after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said the issue was “not negotiable” under the October ceasefire framework. He also said Hamas could still have a political role in post-war Gaza if it gave up its weapons. The comments laid out the central dispute now holding up the next phase of the truce. ### What exactly is blocking the ceasefire’s next phase? The October ceasefire plan requires Hamas to surrender its weapons and dismantle its tunnel network before broader reconstruction and governance steps can move ahead, Mladenov said. He told reporters that progress on “all other issues” was being held up by the deadlock over disarmament, including Israeli troop withdrawals and the establishment of a new Palestinian government. (pbs.org) Mladenov said Hamas’s political wing did not necessarily have to disappear from Gaza, drawing a distinction between armed control and political participation. He said negotiators had discussed practical details such as gun buybacks and the use of small arms by law enforcement, but he did not say how those arrangements would be enforced or what would happen if Hamas refused. (pbs.org) ### Why is reconstruction still not moving? Mladenov said reconstruction cannot proceed while armed groups remain active in Gaza, arguing that aid delivery and rebuilding are tied to security arrangements in the ceasefire plan. He said “the door to the future of Gaza is still closed” seven months after the truce was reached and that the current situation had failed to deliver what Palestinians and Israelis were promised. (click2houston.com) The ceasefire framework envisions Israeli forces withdrawing, an international security force deploying and a technocratic Palestinian government taking over as rebuilding begins. But Hamas has linked any demilitarization to Israeli pullbacks, while Israel’s military still controls more than half of Gaza, according to AP and Reuters reporting. (pbs.org) ### How much fighting is still going on? ACLED said in its April 2026 regional update that the U.S.-Iran two-week ceasefire was reached on April 8. Reuters reported from that data that Israel carried out 35% more attacks in Gaza in April than in March, indicating that military pressure on the enclave increased rather than eased after the Iran fighting paused. (pbs.org) Reuters also reported, citing the Gaza Health Ministry, that 120 Palestinians, including eight women and 13 children, were killed in Gaza after April 8, a 20% increase from the previous five-week period. Four Israeli defense officials told Reuters that the military had warned Netanyahu’s government that Hamas was rebuilding its forces and weapons stocks, while an Israeli military official said Israel retained the right to act against imminent threats under the ceasefire. (acleddata.com) ### What does Hamas’s “political role” mean in practice? Mladenov said Hamas was not being asked to vanish as a political movement, only to disarm. That formulation suggests a post-war arrangement in which Hamas could remain part of Gaza’s political landscape without retaining an armed wing, though Mladenov did not provide a timetable or enforcement mechanism. That is an inference from his remarks and the ceasefire structure he described. (usnews.com) AP reported that Hamas remains in control of roughly half the strip and has sought to tie demilitarization to Israeli withdrawal. That leaves negotiators trying to sequence three unresolved steps at once: disarmament, withdrawal and reconstruction. ### What happens next? Mladenov’s office said it is addressing violations by both sides on a daily basis as the truce formally remains in effect. (click2houston.com) The next phase still calls for Hamas to disarm, Israeli forces to pull back to the perimeter and a new Palestinian governing structure to be installed before large-scale rebuilding can begin. (pbs.org) Israel, Hamas and the Board of Peace team have not announced a new public deadline for those steps. For now, the clearest benchmark remains the October ceasefire plan itself and the unresolved negotiations over disarmament, buybacks, troop withdrawals and reconstruction access. (pbs.org)