GAZA STRIP: The top diplomat from the Board of Peace has blamed Hamas for the stalled ceasefire, but critics have said the US-backed board’s lack of even-handedness in implementing the truce risks a return to war.
The “high representative for Gaza”, Nickolay Mladenov, told the UN security council on Thursday that Hamas was the “principal obstacle” to the ceasefire’s continued implementation because “it refused to accept verified decommissioning, relinquish coercive control and allow a genuine civilian transition”.
Hamas rejected the Bulgarian diplomat’s accusations. Its spokesperson, Hazem Qassem, said the report “reflects continued adoption of the Israeli position and serves as an attempt to justify further Israeli escalation”.
Critics of the Board of Peace, launched by Donald Trump in January, said the Mladenov report gave a misleading and one-sided account of the ceasefire, in which Israel has been the main violator.
Israel was not directly criticised in Mladenov’s report, only by implication in references to “all parties”. Critics said that by putting the blame solely on Hamas, Mladenov’s report could lend legitimacy to any future decision by Benjamin Netanyahu to return to war.
