Nikolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace high representative leading President Donald Trump’s Gaza ceasefire efforts, criticized ongoing Israeli military strikes on Wednesday during a briefing to the U.N. Security Council. Mladenov stated that continued attacks in the Palestinian territory obstruct a 20-point U.S. proposal aimed at ending the conflict, warning that the alternative to the plan is a return to war.
The U.S. proposal follows years of military operations and a war sparked by the Hamas attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. While a ceasefire was established last October, Mladenov reported that Israeli strikes have continued. He stated that the militant group Hamas has agreed to a key provision of the Trump plan to disarm and transfer Gaza to civilian rule, but disagreement remains over the timing of the Israeli withdrawal.
During the U.N. session, Mladenov questioned the effectiveness of strikes on munitions depots, arguing they do not stop rearmament but rather delay demilitarization. In response, Israel’s deputy U.N. ambassador, Noa Furman, affirmed his country's commitment to the Trump plan but maintained that the proposal cannot succeed while Hamas remains armed. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has previously stated that Israeli forces will not withdraw from Gaza lines until Hamas has surrendered all weapons.
For the Israeli government and its citizens, the scale of the plan involves a 20-point roadmap that requires the complete disarmament of Hamas, a group responsible for the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks. The dispute centers on a fundamental sequence of events: whether disarmament occurs alongside a phased withdrawal or as a prerequisite for it. Netanyahu remains opposed to a Palestinian state, which Mladenov identified as the "political horizon" of the U.S. plan, creating a direct policy conflict between the U.S. administration's goals and the Israeli leadership's stated positions.
The failure to reach a final agreement would, according to Mladenov, result in a "point of no return" where no roadmap for peace would remain. He warned that the alternative is a radicalized generation in Gaza and the certainty of future conflict. While U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz stated that concerns are being addressed and Hamas' actions will be judged, no specific deadline for the plan's implementation was reported following Mladenov's recent technical meetings with Jared Kushner and Israeli officials.
What happens next involves ongoing technical work to narrow the differences between the U.S. and Israeli positions. Mladenov reported that the plan has moved from "the negotiating table to the engineering table," though Prime Minister Netanyahu’s demand for total disarmament before withdrawal remains a primary hurdle. The U.N. Security Council continues to monitor the situation as the U.S. attempts to secure the transition to a civilian government in Gaza.