Trump Gaza Envoy Mladenov Blasts Israel Strikes at UN
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- Nikolay Mladenov, Board of Peace high representative leading Trump's Gaza ceasefire plan, told the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday that Israel's strikes since last October's ceasefire are still killing Palestinians and that hitting munitions depots will not stop Hamas from rearming.
- Mladenov insisted Trump's 20-point plan has not stalled and "has moved from the negotiating table to the engineering table," pointing to Hamas's agreement to the plan's key provision to disarm and turn Gaza over to civilian rule.
- Benjamin Netanyahu told Mladenov and Jared Kushner at a meeting last week that Israeli forces will not withdraw from current lines in Gaza until Hamas hands over all its weapons, while reiterating his opposition to a Palestinian state.
- Mladenov framed the choice before the council as "a Gaza disarmed, rebuilt and reconnected to the world. Or a Gaza rearmed, divided and in rubble, with a radicalized generation raised inside it and the next war already on the horizon."
- U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz told the council that concerns about Trump's plan are being addressed and that Hamas's disarmament will be judged on its actions, while Israel's deputy U.N. ambassador Noa Furman said Israel cannot succeed in the plan while Hamas remains armed.
- The Trump plan includes a "credible pathway to a political horizon" and a two-state solution to the decades-old conflict, a component Netanyahu "vehemently opposes," according to the source.
Why it matters: With Mladenov publicly attacking Israel's tactics while Netanyahu refuses to pull troops back until full disarmament, the plan's central bargain — Hamas disarms, Israel withdraws — has no agreed-upon sequencing, and Mladenov's warning of a "point of no return" raises the cost for both sides if the technical negotiations he described with Kushner collapse.
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