Israel continues to block Gaza technocrats from entering strip as killings continue unabated
The High Representative of Trump's Board of Peace claims the committee appointed to administer Gaza cannot begin its work until Israel's ceasefire violations end
The High Representative for Gaza of US President Donald Trump's Board of Peace stated at the Munich Security Conference on 13 February that the Palestinian technocratic committee tasked with governing Gaza in place of Hamas cannot enter the strip if violations of the ceasefire continue.
"We need to make sure that what is happening now with the violations of the ceasefire stops," said Nickolay Mladenov, a former Bulgarian Foreign and Defense Minister.
Under Trump's 21-point Gaza ceasefire plan, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), a committee of Palestinian technocrats, is supposed to oversee the reconstruction of Gaza under the direction of the Board of Peace.
"If you put the committee tomorrow in Gaza and the violations of the ceasefire continue the way they are now. We're only embarrassing the committee and ultimately making it ineffective," explained Mladenov, without identifying which side was responsible for the ceasefire violations.
Since Trump's ceasefire plan took effect in October, Israel has continued to bomb Gaza intermittently and open fire on Palestinians, killing at least 600 people, including scores of women and children.
Many have been killed by Israeli troops for accidentally approaching the invisible "yellow line" dividing Gaza between the Israeli and Hamas-controlled sections of the strip.
Eleven Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza on Sunday morning, according to Palestinian civil defense and health officials.
Israel has also continued to block the entry of humanitarian aid into the strip, which has become almost unlivable, despite requirements it do so according to the terms of the ceasefire.
Mladenov, a former UN Envoy to West Asia, was named head of the Board of Peace in January after Arab states opposed Trump's first choice, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Blair is known in the region for partnering with former US president George W. Bush to invade Iraq in 2003, based on the false pretext that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction.
Speaking in Munich, Mladenov warned against "cementing" the status quo in which the strip is divided between Israeli and Hamas-controlled sides.
"Under the current conditions, with Hamas still in Gaza and Gaza divided into two, we're setting ourselves up for complete and utter failure if we don't address that. And the price of that daily failure will be paid both by Palestinians and Israelis down the line," Mladenov said. Israeli forces are also required to withdraw from territory they control under the ceasefire agreement.
The Bulgarian diplomat outlined five requirements that must be met to allow the NCAG to enter Gaza and effectively carry out its work.
First, Hamas must transfer control over civilian institutions to the NCAG.
Second, the ceasefire violations in Gaza must end.
Third, there must be a "radical increase" in the aid to Gaza, including temporary housing, tents, caravans, medicine, and food.
Fourth, the NCAG must have sufficient funding, which is expected to come from billions of dollars of donations from the Gulf States.
Finally, Hamas must decommission its weapons, Mladenov said.
Israel has demanded that Hamas completely disarm, despite sabotaging White House efforts to facilitate a deal to do so since the ceasefire took hold.
Notably, Trump's plan for the NCAG to administer Gaza assures that Palestinians retain no sovereignty over their homeland. Palestinian academic Yara Hawari writes that the "formation of the NCAG is part of a deliberate approach by the US to depoliticize the Palestinian struggle. It creates the appearance of Palestinian participation while operating under Trump's BoP, effectively eroding Palestinian political agency. In practice, the NCAG is positioned to play a role similar to that of the PA in the West Bank: a service provider operating under colonial oversight."
Regarding its latest strikes, the Israeli army claimed they were in response to alleged ceasefire violations by Hamas, claiming resistance fighters were killed after emerging from a tunnel into an area of the strip on the Israeli side of the so-called "yellow line."
The Palestinian Red Crescent said a strike on a tent encampment in northern Gaza killed at least six people, while another strike in the south of the strip killed five.
Sources in the strip also said an Israeli strike on the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood near the University College in southwestern Gaza City killed Sami al-Dahdouh, a commander in the Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and wounded several others.