Ahmed Kamel – Egypt Daily News
Israel has announced that Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov will serve as the director-general of US President Donald Trump’s newly created Board of Peace for Gaza, a body tasked with overseeing the fragile ceasefire and guiding the next phase of postwar governance in the enclave. The announcement came as Israeli airstrikes on Thursday killed at least eight Palestinians, underscoring the tenuous nature of the truce that halted more than two years of fighting between Israel and Hamas.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Mladenov was the “designated” choice to direct the board following a meeting with him in Jerusalem, calling the appointment a significant step toward implementing Trump’s long-delayed Middle East peace initiative. A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Mladenov is the administration’s preferred candidate to manage the board’s day-to-day operations on the ground, though the appointment has yet to be formally announced by Washington.
Under Trump’s plan, the Board of Peace for Gaza is intended to oversee the second and far more complex phase of the October ceasefire. That phase includes supervising a new technocratic Palestinian administration, facilitating the disarmament of Hamas, deploying an international security force, managing further Israeli troop withdrawals, and coordinating large-scale reconstruction. Despite these ambitions, US and Israeli officials acknowledge that little tangible progress has been made so far.
Mladenov brings extensive regional experience to the role. A former Bulgarian foreign and defense minister, he served as the United Nations’ special envoy to Iraq before holding the post of UN Middle East peace envoy from 2015 to 2020. During that period, he developed working relationships with Israeli officials and frequently mediated efforts to defuse tensions between Israel and Hamas, earning a reputation as a pragmatic interlocutor.
The ceasefire brokered in October ended large-scale hostilities and led to the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners detained by Israel. While the agreement has largely held, both sides have accused each other of violations. Hamas has yet to return the remains of Ran Gvili, a 24-year-old Israeli police officer killed during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war. Israeli officials say efforts to recover his body have resumed.
Since the ceasefire took effect, Israeli strikes have continued in Gaza, killing more than 400 Palestinians, according to local health authorities. Israel says these operations have been in response to violations of the agreement, while Palestinian officials and humanitarian groups say civilians have been disproportionately affected.
On Thursday, Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least eight people, including an 11-year-old girl, a teenage girl, and two boys sheltering in a tent camp, according to hospital officials and family members. At least a dozen others were wounded. Hamas condemned the deaths as a “blatant violation of the ceasefire.”
One of the victims, 11-year-old Hamsa Housou, was killed in Gaza City’s Jabaliya area. Her uncle said the family had returned home a day after the ceasefire began, only to face daily gunfire from Israeli forces. “They say there is a ceasefire, but every day there are explosions and shooting,” he said. “Where is the ceasefire?”
The Israeli military said it was not aware of any casualties linked to its operations in Jabaliya and did not immediately comment on other incidents reported Thursday.
As violence persists, international pressure is mounting to stabilize the situation. Meeting in Cairo, Egyptian and European Union officials called for the deployment of an international stabilization force to oversee the ceasefire. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas warned that progress toward the next phase of the peace plan remains stalled.
“The situation is extremely severe,” Kallas said. “Hamas refuses to disarm, while Israel is also restricting international NGOs, putting humanitarian aid access at serious risk. There is no justification for the humanitarian situation in Gaza to have deteriorated to this level.”
Humanitarian concerns were further highlighted by warnings from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees. UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said Israeli pressure on the agency risks creating a major vacuum in essential services, including health care, education, and social support.
“No other organization has the capacity or the community trust to replace UNRWA,” Lazzarini said during a visit to Ankara. He announced that the agency plans to open an office in Turkey within weeks, initially serving as a liaison and advocacy hub to improve humanitarian access to Gaza, with the potential for expanded operations later.
As Trump’s Board of Peace prepares to take shape, the appointment of Mladenov signals an attempt to inject diplomatic experience into a stalled process. Yet continued violence, unresolved hostage issues, and deep political divisions suggest that turning the ceasefire into a sustainable peace will remain an arduous task.
