Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov to head Gaza peace board
Israel's prime minister said on Thursday that a former UN Middle East envoy, Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov, has been chosen to serve as the director-general for US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace aimed at overseeing the peace process in Gaza.
Benjamin Netanyahu made the announcement after meeting Mladenov in Jerusalem. The announcement included photos of the two men and a short video of them shaking hands.
In the announcement, Netanyahu identified Mladenov as the "designated" director-general for the board, which is meant to oversee the implementation of the second and far more complicated phase of the cease-fire.
There was no immediate confirmation from Washington but the appointment marks an important step forward for Trump's Middle East peace plan, which has stalled since an October ceasefire ending more than two years of fighting between Israel and Hamas.
Trump is expected to name the members of the board later this month, with Mladenov serving as their on-the-ground representative.
A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the appointment has not been officially announced, confirmed Mladenov is the Trump administration's choice to be the day-to-day administrator of the Board of Peace.
Under Trump's plan, the board is supposed to supervise a new technocratic Palestinian government, the disarmament of Hamas, the deployment of an international security force, additional pullbacks of Israeli troops and reconstruction of the Strip.
Mladenov is a former Bulgarian defence and foreign minister who served as the UN envoy to Iraq before being appointed as the UN Middle East peace envoy from 2015-2020. During that time, he frequently worked to ease tensions between Israel and Hamas.
The first phase of the ceasefire, which started on 10 October last year, halted the fighting and saw an exchange of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians held by Israel.
The deal has largely held, though it has been marred by mutual accusations of violations.
Hamas has still not returned the body of one hostage; an Israeli policeman killed in the 7 October 2023 incursion that triggered the war.
Continued Israeli strikes in Gaza, meanwhile, have killed over 400 Palestinians, according to local health officials.
Israel says the strikes have been in response to violations of the deal, but Palestinian health officials say scores of civilians have been among the dead.
Hamas refuses to disarm
On Thursday, Egyptian and European Union leaders meeting in Cairo urged the deployment of an international stabilisation force in Gaza to oversee the October ceasefire.
"The situation is extremely severe. Still, Hamas refuses to disarm. It blocks progress to the next state of the peace plan at the same time Israel is also restricting the international NGOs that are putting humanitarian aid access at serious risk," EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.
"There's no justification for the humanitarian situation in Gaza to have deteriorated to the current level," she said.
UNRWA warns of 'huge vacuum' in aid
Meanwhile, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees warned on Thursday that Israeli pressure on the organisation risks creating a “huge vacuum” in services.
Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), told reporters in Ankara that no other body has the capacity or “community trust” to provide health, education, and social services there.
“If the agency cannot or has to stop to operate in Gaza or in the West Bank, this will create a huge vacuum,” he said.
Lazzarini was in Turkey for talks with officials on improving humanitarian access in Gaza.
Additional sources • AP
