UN council urged to use ‘every means at its disposal’ to press Hamas to disarm

UNITED NATIONSto (AP) — The official overseeing the U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Gaza urged the U.N. Security Council on Thursday to use “every means at its disposal” to press Hamas to disarm, warning that every act of violence in the Palestinian territory risks “unraveling” the agreement.

Nickolay Mladenov, high representative of the Board of Peace, an international body established by President Donald Trump, said Israel must also uphold its obligations under the October’s ceasefire, pointing to the killings of Palestinians and restrictions on the flow of humanitarian aid.

The choice before Hamas and Israel is either “a deteriorating status quo” or a new beginning for Palestinians now waiting “in desperate conditions,” he said. “There is no third option. There never was, and the people of Gaza should not be made to wait while some pretend that there is.”

Mladenov was expanding on the first report by the Board of Peace, which said the main obstacle to full implementation of the ceasefire remains “Hamas’ refusal to accept verified decommissioning, relinquish coercive control, and permit a genuine civilian transition in Gaza.”

Hamas in a statement criticized the new report and said it ignored Israel’s failure to comply with the terms of the ceasefire.

The Palestinian militant group, which led the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza, has sought to link any demilitarization to Israeli troop pullbacks. Israel’s military has expanded its control of Gaza since the truce took effect and now controls some 60% of the territory.

Mladenov, a veteran Bulgarian diplomat, said if Israel and Hamas refuse to accept the roadmap to implement Trump’s peace plan, the Board of Peace will discuss ways to provide humanitarian relief and promote recovery in the territory.

If nothing is done, he said, Gaza will remain divided. with Hamas holding administrative and military control over 2 million Palestinians who can live in less than half of the Gaza Strip and are likely to remain trapped in rubble, needing aid and without hope of reconstruction or a future for their children.

“This is a version of the future that Israelis, Palestinians and the region should all fear and all mobilize to avoid,” Mladenov said.

He said the decommissioning of weapons “will be gradual, sequenced and time-bound against an agreed timetable” — and that weapons from Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups will not be transferred to Israel but to the transitional administration in Gaza.

The roadmap deserves the Security Council’s “clear, consistent and unequivocal support,” he said.

“I ask the council to use every means at its disposal to urge Hamas to accept the roadmap without further delay, and Israel to uphold its obligations under the ceasefire,” Mladenov said. “Diplomacy must continue, cannot be used as an excuse for delay while 2 million people wait in desperate conditions.”