President Trump's top Gaza peace envoy warned the U.N. Security Council that Israel's continued strikes are jeopardizing the cease-fire -- while revealing Hamas has agreed to disarm for the first time.
The Gaza cease-fire is on the brink after President Trump's top peace envoy for the region accused Israel of endangering the truce with continued strikes on Hamas targets. Nikolay Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza on the Trump administration's Board of Peace, delivered the blunt warning in a briefing to the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday -- and revealed what he called a major breakthrough: Hamas has agreed, for the first time, to disarm and hand over control of the strip.
"Will another strike on a munitions depot stop Hamas from rearming or tightening its grip on Gaza?" Mladenov asked the council. "It will not."
Mladenov's remarks marked a rare public rift between the U.S.-led peace body and Israel, its closest ally in the region. He pointed to ongoing Israeli operations against what the military describes as Hamas weapons facilities, arguing the strikes are undermining the very deal designed to end the fighting.
The envoy warned that every weapon carried, every tunnel still worked on, and every convoy still obstructed sets the peace process back -- and that Palestinian civilians would pay the price. "Ceasefires that deliver nothing visible are not sustained by patience; they are only exhausted by it," he concluded.
In the same briefing, Mladenov said Hamas and other armed factions in Gaza have agreed to surrender their weapons and transfer full governing authority -- both civilian and security -- to a new body. It is the first time the terror group has publicly committed to giving up its arsenal as part of a negotiated settlement.
The development follows weeks of back-and-forth over the administration's 15-point disarmament plan, which Hamas initially rejected before coming around under pressure from the Board of Peace and regional mediators.
Israel, for its part, rejected the U.S. plan earlier this month, insisting Hamas must fully disarm before any Israeli forces withdraw from Gaza. Israeli officials have also scaled back some operations since early August, when Mladenov met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but strikes on suspected weapons sites have continued.
Palestinian officials say recent attacks have hit civilian infrastructure, including a water plant and a warehouse, killing at least seven people including two children. The Israeli military says its strikes target facilities storing rockets, explosives and other weapons intended for use against its troops.
Despite the tensions, Israel's security cabinet has approved the first phase of a pilot program to bring the Board of Peace's Peace Council into Gaza, beginning in the Rafah area. The plan calls for temporary housing compounds, restoration of basic services, strict security screening for residents, and deployment of an international stabilization force.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich backed the move, while National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir opposed it -- a sign of the political friction the peace push is generating inside the Israeli government.
The Board of Peace, unveiled by Trump at Davos in January, is the administration's flagship effort to broker an end to the conflict -- and Wednesday's briefing showed the White House is willing to lean on both sides to keep it alive.
The coming days will test whether Israel holds its fire long enough for the disarmament process to take root. With Hamas now publicly on record agreeing to give up its weapons, the Board of Peace has leverage to press both sides -- and the world is watching to see whether the Trump-brokered truce can survive the road to a lasting settlement.
President Trump's top Gaza peace envoy warned the U.N. Security Council that Israel's continued strikes are jeopardizing the cease-fire -- while revealing Hamas has agreed to disarm for the first time.
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