Board of Peace envoy warns ‘permanent’ Gaza divide under current status quo

Key points

• The high representative overseeing the United States-founded Board of Peace for Gaza, Nickolay Mladenov, has warned that the deteriorating status quo in the devastated Palestinian enclave risks becoming “permanent”.
• Speaking on Thursday to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), Mladenov presented a roadmap detailing obligations for Israel and Hamas to implement a permanent ceasefire.
• He urged the UNSC to use “every means at its disposal” to press Hamas to disarm, while also saying that Israel must uphold its commitment under a ceasefire agreed in October.
• “Let me say this clearly: the implementation cannot advance through Palestinian obligations alone,” Mladenov said, speaking via video call.
• “The continued killings and Israeli restrictions affecting humanitarian flows are not abstract issues,” he said.