Israeli PM meets diplomat expected to serve on Trump’s Gaza peace board

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday met with former UN Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov, whom media reports say is expected to represent the US backed Board of Peace in Gaza.

Bulgarian diplomat Mladenov served as the United Nations envoy for the Middle East peace process from early 2015 until the end of 2020.

Media reports say he is expected to serve as the representative on the ground in Gaza for the Board of Peace — a transitional body for the war-battered Palestinian territory which US President Donald Trump would theoretically chair.

Netanyahu met with Mladenov in Jerusalem on Thursday and “reiterated and clarified that Hamas must disarm and that the Gaza Strip should be demilitarized in accordance with President Trump’s 20-point plan,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement.

It added that Mladenov “is slated to serve as Director General of the ‘Peace Council’ in the Gaza Strip.”

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog also met with Mladenov on Thursday, a spokesman from his office said, without providing further details.

Under Trump’s plan for Gaza, the territory will be governed by a temporary transitional technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee, under the oversight and supervision of the Board of Peace.

Citing US officials and sources familiar with the matter, US media outlet Axios reported that Trump is expected to announce the board next week as part of the second stage of the fragile ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas that came into effect in October.

It added that the board would include around 15 world leaders.

“Among the countries expected to join the board are the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt and Turkey,” Axios reported.

Since October 10, a truce in Gaza has largely halted the fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas, but some White House officials fear both are slow-walking the second stage of the ceasefire.

Under the second stage, Israel is supposed to gradually withdraw from its positions in Gaza, while Hamas is supposed to lay down its weapons.

An international stabilisation force (ISF) is also to be deployed.

Both sides, however, have alleged frequent ceasefire violations.