Board of Peace's Gaza envoy criticises Israeli strikes and Hamas actions

Mladenov said that process had not stalled but warned that risks remained, including the continued killing of Palestinian civilians in Israeli strikes."A ceasefire in fact under which civilians are still buried is not yet one that the people of Gaza can really feel. Every use of force that does not answer an immediate threat, and every incident that the deconfliction mechanism was not asked to resolve, costs this process something very hard to buy back," he added.Mladenov acknowledged that Hamas too had yet to meet fully its commitment to cease all military activities."Every weapon carried, every tunnel still worked and every convoy still obstructed sets the process back and hands an argument to those who want to resume war," he said.He repeated that under the new roadmap, Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza "follows verified decommissioning" of Hamas weapons handed over to the Palestinian technocratic committee that will govern Gaza under the Board of Peace's supervision."It is sequenced and reciprocal," he said.That is a key difference from comments made by President Trump's envoy, Jared Kushner, after meeting Israel's prime minister two weeks ago.He said Israeli withdrawal would be discussed only once the demilitarisation of Gaza was "done" - appearing to change the plan in line with Israel's demands.