Nickolay Mladenov, the high representative for the International Board of Peace overseeing the Israel-Hamas ceasefire on Wednesday reiterated longstanding demands that Hamas and other militant groups disarm, calling them “not negotiable”.
Seven months ago, the US-brokered ceasefire agreed to by Israel and Hamas included disarmament as a key provision but little progress has been made.
Negotiations have centred around details, some of which Mr Mladenov referenced on Wednesday, about gun buybacks and small arms for law enforcement.
Hamas’s disarmament is a sticking point that has stalled progress on other fronts, including rebuilding the mostly destroyed enclave.
We are not asking Hamas to disappear as a political movement
But Mr Mladenov also said Hamas could have a role in post-war Gaza if they disarmed.
“We are not asking Hamas to disappear as a political movement,” he said.
He criticised the group for consolidating power in parts of Gaza and said they were doing it “to squeeze better terms of a negotiation”.
The remarks conflict with some of Israel’s aims to destroy the militant group that has governed Gaza for two decades.
“Seven months since the ceasefire, the door to the future of Gaza is still closed,” Mr Mladenov said.
“It is not what the Palestinians were promised and it is not what they deserve.
“And it is not giving Israel the security to move forward, as the Israeli people also want.”
Mr Mladenov was in Jerusalem on Wednesday seeking to advance the ceasefire deal that Israel and Hamas agreed to last year.
Hamas has sought to link any demilitarisation to Israeli troop pullbacks. Israel’s military remains in control of more than half Gaza.
“The only way that we believe that we can ensure that Israeli withdrawal takes place to the perimeter is if we have the full element of the plan unfolding in Gaza,” Mr Mladenov said at a rare press conference in Jerusalem.
Mr Mladenov stated plainly that the plan envisioned in the ceasefire was off to a rocky start.
He also said conditions remain dire and miserable for the more than two million people in Gaza. He accused both sides of violating the ceasefire but said it had mostly held and staved off the return of full-scale war.
Mr Mladenov is a long-time UN diplomat and consultant who has also been a government minister in his home country, Bulgaria.
Last year he was named high representative for Gaza for the President Donald Trump-led International Board of Peace designed to oversee post-war plans for the strip.
The Israel-Hamas war began when Hamas-led militants stormed Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 as hostages. Israel’s ensuing offensive has killed more than 72,724 Palestinians, including at least 846 since a ceasefire took hold last October, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.