Nickolay Mladenov, the high representative of the Board of Peace, has urged the UN Security Council to use “every means at its disposal” to press Hamas to disarm and called on Israel to honour its ceasefire commitments.
“There is no third option,” he said. “There never was, and the people of Gaza should not be made to wait while some pretend that there is.”
Speaking before the council, Mr Mladenov warned that if both sides continued to reject the proposed road map and failed to implement US President Donald Trump’s peace plan, the Board of Peace might have to explore alternative ways of delivering humanitarian aid and supporting Gaza’s recovery.
Without a durable ceasefire, he said, more than two million Palestinians risk being squeezed into less than half of the enclave.
“I want to be clear about the risks of inaction by the parties,” he said. “The risk is that the deteriorating status quo becomes permanent: a divided Gaza, Hamas holding military and administrative control over two million people across less than half the territory.
“Those people are likely to remain trapped in the rubble, dependent on aid with no meaningful reconstruction, because reconstruction financing will not flow where weapons have not been laid down."
He said the biggest obstacle to full implementation of the ceasefire remains “Hamas’ refusal to accept verified decommissioning, relinquish coercive control, and permit a genuine civilian transition in Gaza".
The appeal comes as Washington presses ahead with the second phase of its road map, announced in January. That stage calls for Hamas to disarm, while also envisioning a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces and the arrival of an international stabilisation force.
Riyad Mansour, Palestinian ambassador to the UN, stressed that all sides must fulfil their obligations under the ceasefire deal. He said the agreement presented a chance to end the war and secure lasting peace, security and prosperity for Palestinians, Israelis and the broader region.
“International law is not optional,” Mr Mansour said. “There should be only one path, compliance or enforcement.”
Mr Mladenov, who is leading the Board of Peace, painted a more optimistic picture of humanitarian conditions on the ground. Hunger levels had eased, he said, while the diversion of aid had fallen sharply to about 1 per cent. “The number of people receiving food assistance has risen from 400,000 to roughly two million,” he added.
That assessment was swiftly challenged after the Security Council meeting, when the leaders of three major humanitarian organisations told reporters at the UN that the Board of Peace’s report did not fully reflect the hardships Palestinians continue to face in Gaza despite months of relative calm.
They argued that while the ceasefire had eased some suffering and increased the flow of aid, daily life for many Gazans remained defined by restrictions, soaring prices and unmet humanitarian needs.
Janti Soeripto, president and chief executive of Save the Children US, said Israeli authorities continued to restrict most UN and NGO assistance despite some improvement since the ceasefire.
“While a trickle of lorries has entered the strip, deliveries remain far below the 600 lorries per day stipulated in the peace plan,” she told reporters. “There is more food in Gaza thanks to the ceasefire.
“Most people, though, cannot afford it. The price of flour is still up by 50 per cent and food that is available is not always nutritious.”
Ms Soeripto said the Roadmap “on paper is a good thing” because it brings together several states and stakeholders. But it “must be allowed to do its work; to work with organisations like ours and many others to help implement and provide that humanitarian assistance", she added.
Jeremy Konyndyk, president of Refugees International, said the ceasefire framework could significantly improve conditions if fully implemented, but the parties were failing to uphold its provisions.
“The problem is not the ceasefire plan itself,” he said. “The problem is that it is failing. The parties are failing to uphold it, particularly when it comes to humanitarian response.”
Mr Konyndyk accused Israel of continuing to block aid deliveries and said the guarantors of the agreement, “most importantly the United States”, had failed to hold Israel accountable for those restrictions.
What is in the 15-point Gaza road map?
According to Mr Mladenov, the road map is built on “reciprocity and verification”, with each step by one side bringing a corresponding step by the other and requiring certification before implementation proceeds.
- Commitment to UNSC Resolution 2803 and the Comprehensive Plan aimed at ending the conflict, restoring civilian life, enabling Palestinian governance and reconstruction, and opening a pathway to Palestinian statehood.
- Complete ceasefire obligations first, including aid deliveries, fuel, border crossings, shelter and humanitarian commitments before advancing to the next phase.
- Independent verification mechanism. No phase begins until commitments from the previous stage are certified by a verification committee comprising guarantors, the stabilisation force and the Board of Peace.
- Transitional governance framework. The Board of Peace oversees governance, reconstruction and redevelopment through the high representative (Mr Mladenov), NCAG and an international stabilisation force until a reformed Palestinian Authority returns.
- Hamas excluded from governing Gaza. Hamas and other factions would have no direct or indirect governing role, while civil servants retain their rights and employment protections.
- “One authority, one law, one weapon". This point establishes the governing principle of the transition: that only authorised Palestinian institutions would exercise security authority inside Gaza; only authorised personnel carry weapons; armed groups cease military activity; and governance and security structures become unified under one civilian authority.
- Police restructuring and vetting focuses on rebuilding civilian policing and preventing a security vacuum during the transition. The road map calls for vetting police personnel, integrating trained officers into civilian structures, offering non-armed roles or compensation where appropriate, and transferring police weapons to NCAG control as soon as it enters the Gaza Strip.
- Gradual decommissioning of weapons. The proposal does not call for immediate surrender or unilateral disarmament. It outlines a phased, Palestinian-led and internationally verified process carried out gradually and according to an agreed timetable.
- Regulation of personal weapons. NCAG becomes the sole authority for licensing, registration and collection of unlicensed firearms, supported by buy-back and reintegration programmes.
- Security guarantees during transition. Individuals would not surrender personal weapons until agreed security milestones are verified.
- Social peace agreement. Immediate halt to internal violence, armed displays, reprisals and factional score-settling.
- The international stabilisation force would act as a buffer between Israeli forces and NCAG-controlled areas, support decommissioning and protect humanitarian operations.
- Phased Israeli military withdrawal to Gaza's perimeter according to an agreed timetable linked to verified disarmament and stabilisation force deployment.
- Palestinian security responsibility. NCAG assumes responsibility for security breaches in fully decommissioned and certified areas.
- Reconstruction tied to disarmament. Large-scale reconstruction can proceed only in areas certified as decommissioned and effectively administered by NCAG.
