Who is Nickolay Mladenov, the diplomat tasked with ‘disarming Gaza’?


_{Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with Nickolay Mladenov in Jerusalem, January 8, 2026}

Following the Arab veto of the regionally toxic former British leader Tony Blair, Washington has deployed its Plan B, Nickolay Mladenov, as the push for phase two of the fragile ceasefire gains some momentum.

The 53-year-old former Bulgarian foreign minister and defence minister is no longer just a nominee; he is arguably the most critical figure in the newly launched phase two of the ceasefire, which Israel has violated on a daily basis since October 10.

Mladenov has been confirmed as the director-general of the United States-proposed “Board of Peace”. His mandate is to oversee the transition from Hamas rule to a new technocratic administration led by Ali Shaath, a former Palestinian Authority (PA) deputy minister.

For five years from 2015-2020, Mladenov served as the United Nations’ top envoy to the region, earning a reputation as a “firefighter” who could talk to everyone.

Now, he returns with a far more fraught and potentially explosive mission: Implementing a US-designed plan that explicitly calls for the “disarmament of all unauthorised personnel” – a euphemism for ending Hamas’s military power while Israel continues its occupation.

The mediator’s test

Nickolay Mladenov is tasked with supervising the new “technocratic committee” headed by Shaath, which will manage daily life for two million war-battered Palestinians who have lost family members, their homes, hospitals and schools in relentless Israeli bombardment.

However, this structure will face a crisis of legitimacy. Mladenov must navigate a landscape where Israel controls a “buffer zone” in the east, more than 50 percent of the whole territory, and refuses to withdraw fully – all while he attempts to sell a governance plan to the very factions he is tasked with disarming.

In his recent post-UN career, Mladenov has championed a “new model” for the Middle East, defined by “cutting-edge innovation” and technological partnerships. He has spoken enthusiastically about the region shifting from “oil barrels to silicon chips”.

Critics, however, argue that this worldview presents a mismatch for Gaza’s current reality. As the Strip enters the second phase, the needs are existential, not technological. The displaced population is living in flimsy tents in extreme weather, dependent on humanitarian aid that Israel largely blocks, and navigating a landscape of rubble.

There is a concern among humanitarian experts that Mladenov’s mandate – tied to high-level “Board of Peace” politics – may be divorced from the gritty requirements of a starving population. The risk is of an administrator focused on a “Davos-style” future while the present remains mired in catastrophe.

Proposing to use debris to build artificial islands shows how divorced he is from the urgent needs of the population. 

A shift in alignment

While Mladenov is often cited as a “fair broker” trusted by both Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the PA, his post-UN career suggests a subtle but significant realignment.

Since 2021, he has served as director-general of the Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy in Abu Dhabi. In this capacity, he has become a vocal proponent of the “Abraham Accords” – the normalisation agreements between Israel and several Arab states – framing them as a “supercharge” for regional stability.

This perspective places him firmly within the strategic orbit of some Gulf states and US President Donald Trump’s administration. While this connection may help secure funding for reconstruction, it complicates his standing on the Palestinian street, where the accords are often viewed as the diplomatic architecture that allowed Palestinians’ plight to be sidelined.

The Abraham accords that were were designed as a catalyst to sideline any Palestinian sovereignty and became one of the reasons for Oct 7...

The mandate: Neutrality vs enforcement

The specific nature of phase two could make Mladenov’s job nigh impossible.

In his previous role, Mladenov reported to the UN secretary-general and was bound to uphold international law. In his new role, he answers to a US-led board that heavily leans into the Israeli narrative of its “security demands”, specifically the “disarmament of all unauthorised personnel”.

Mladenov must now persuade Palestinian factions to engage with a “technocratic” promise of governance, overseen by a diplomat who has spent the last few years advocating for Arab-Israeli normalisation.

As he engages in talks, Mladenov enters this role not merely as a mediator, but as the implementer of a complex international roadmap. It is a mandate shaped in Washington and supported by Gulf financing, yet one that will likely have to be realised under the entrenched constraints of an ongoing Israeli military presence in Gaza.

Set up for failure as all the previous plans to solve the Palestinian 'issue'. As long as the root cause is not addressed, which is the violently racist ethnocentric Israeli Zionist colonizer state backed by the US, there will be no solution.

Israel carries out raids and demolitions, arrests dozens across West Bank

The Israeli military has launched raids and interrogations ensnaring more than 80 people across the occupied West Bank, wounding at least one man and demolishing the home of another as Israel escalates its attacks on the Palestinian territory in tandem with its ongoing genocidal war in Gaza.

In one incident on Thursday, Israeli forces surrounded a home in Dura, south of the city of Hebron, before shooting and wounding the brother of Mahmoud al-Fasfous. The al-Fasfous brothers have long been wanted by Israeli forces and have faced frequent raids of the family home and soldier assaults.

In another raid in Hebron’s Khallat Nafisa area, Israeli forces sealed off the area from civilians before destroying the home of Imran al-Atrash with a bulldozer, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

Israeli forces killed al-Atrash and another Palestinian, Walid Muhammad Khalil Sabarna, in mid-November when the duo was accused of carrying out a car-ramming and stabbing attack that killed one Israeli settler and injured three.

The Israeli military posted photos of the demolition on Telegram, claiming that al-Atrash was a “terrorist” and cheering the effort to destroy his home.

Escalating arrest campaign

Elsewhere in Hebron and the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces detained and interrogated at least 80 Palestinians during overnight and dawn raids, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society reported.

At least one woman and two children were among those detained along with former prisoners.

“This represents an unprecedented escalation since the beginning of the year, described as part of a campaign of collective punishment,” the group said, adding that field interrogations have “become the occupation’s most prominent policy”.

Two arrests took place during a raid on the Arroub refugee camp, located north of Hebron, with other arrests under way in virtually all areas surrounding the city, Wafa reported.

In the al-Majaz community of Masafer Yatta, a collection of hamlets in the South Hebron Hills, Israeli forces plundered homes before converting one into a military outpost, forcing its inhabitants to spend the night outside in the cold.

Meanwhile, in the Ramallah and el-Bireh governorate, soldiers stormed the town of Kobar and fanned out across multiple neighbourhoods.

Townspeople told Al Jazeera that the soldiers tried to provoke residents by shouting: “Who wants to become a martyr? Where are the cowards?”

Palestinian families forced into displacement as settler attacks increase

Several families from the Palestinian Bedouin village of Ras Ein al-Auja, north of Jericho in the occupied West Bank’s Jordan Valley, have been forced to flee their homes in recent days, saying harassment by illegal Israeli settlers has made life unbearable.

Speaking to MEE, residents said settlers were constantly attacking them, destroying their property and water tanks and stealing or killing livestock - actions intended to make life in the community impossible. Illegal settlers in nearby outposts, under the protection of Israeli forces, are creating a constant state of fear and insecurity, forcing Palestinians to leave their homes.

What is happening in Ras Ein al-Auja is not an isolated incident, but a part of a broader context of pressures targeting Palestinian communities in the Jordan Valley, effectively leading to gradual forced displacement by making daily life impossible.

Wary of Israeli appropriation, Palestine lists 14 sites with UNESCO


_{A view of the Great Omari Mosque, which was damaged by Israeli shelling during the Israel-Palestine war, where Palestinians perform Friday prayers, in Gaza City, November 21, 2025}

For Palestinians maintaining their land and heritage, which is under Israeli occupation since 1948, became a national priority.  The Palestinian Authority has formally moved to register 14 new cultural and natural sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage tentative list in a bid to safeguard its cultural and historical sites from Israeli appropriation and attacks.

“Palestine is not just a space of political conflict, but a civilisation rooted in human history,” Marwa Adwan, acting director-general of World Heritage at the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism, told Al Jazeera.

“This diversity is the strongest response to attempts to monopolise the historical narrative,” she said, referring to Israeli attempts to appropriate symbols of Palestinian culture and history.

The submission announced by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities on January 1, aims to grant international recognition to endangered landmarks across the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which has been devastated by Israel’s genocidal war. More than 200 historical sites were destroyed by Israeli bombing in what experts called a “cultural genocide“.

The new list brings the total number of Palestinian sites on the tentative list to 24, covering a vast timeline from the Canaanite city-states dating back to 3,000 BC to Gaza’s Old City.

The 14 submitted sites

The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities confirmed the full list of sites submitted to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list spans prehistoric caves, religious routes, and modern architecture. The sites are:

• The historic centre of Gaza, including the Great Omari Mosque and the Church of Saint Porphyrius
• The Byzantine Church of Jabalia (Mukheitim)
• Canaanite city-states
• The historic city of Nablus and its environs
• The Holy Miracles of Jesus Christ in Palestine
• Monasteries of the Jerusalem wilderness (El-Bariyah)
• Maqamat (shrines) in Palestine
• Jerusalem water system Qanat es-Sabeel
• Jabal al-Fureidis / Herodium
• The Lower Jordan River Valley
• Archaeological Palaces of Tulul Abu el-‘Alayiq
• Cultural landscape of Wadi Kharitoun prehistoric caves
• Dwelling caves (Al-Maghayir) of Palestine
• Modern architecture in Palestine

Saving Gaza’s history

A crucial component of the bid is the protection of heritage in Gaza, which has faced catastrophic destruction during Israel’s genocidal war. The list includes the Great Omari Mosque, built nearly 1,400 years ago, and the Church of Saint Porphyrius, both targeted during Israeli bombardment. The Greek Orthodox Church was built in 425.

Adwan described the move as a strategic step for the “day after” the war.

“Listing sites like the Great Omari Mosque … is an initial international recognition of their global value and their urgent need for protection,” she explained. “We are counting on UNESCO not just for funding, but to document damages as an international legal source to preserve our cultural rights.”


And of course Israel labels historical preservation as terrorism:

According to Israel’s Channel 14, Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu sent an urgent letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, labeling the Palestinian move as “archaeological terrorism”.

Three Palestine Action activists end UK hunger strike



Three detained British activists who spent weeks refusing food have ended their hunger strike, citing a report that a United Kingdom-based subsidiary of a major Israeli weapons company was denied a UK government contract.

The Prisoners for Palestine group said in a statement on Wednesday that hunger strikers Kamran Ahmed, Heba Muraisi and Lewie Chiaramello ended their strike after one of their “key” demands was achieved.

“Our prisoners’ hunger strike will be remembered as a landmark moment of pure defiance; an embarrassment for the British state,” the group said.

The Times reported on Tuesday that Elbit Systems UK, a subsidiary of the Israeli arms manufacturer of the same name, had failed to win a $2.69bn contract to help train British soldiers.

Citing an unnamed UK Ministry of Defence “insider”, the news outlet said the department instead chose to award the contract to a rival consortium led by Raytheon UK.

“The abrupt cancellation of this deal is a resounding victory for the hunger strikers, who resisted with their incarcerated bodies to shed light on the role of Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer, in the colonisation and occupation of Palestine,” Prisoners for Palestine said.

For years, Palestinian rights activists have called on countries to divest from Elbit Systems over its role in supplying the Israeli military with weapons used in alleged war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territory.

UK prosecutors seek to reinstate ‘terrorism’ charge against Kneecap rapper


_{Kneecap supporters rally outside the High Court in London, UK, on January 14, 2026}

British prosecutors have sought to reinstate a “terrorism” charge against a member of Irish rap group Kneecap for allegedly displaying a flag of Lebanese group Hezbollah during a gig in London, after a judge threw out the case last year.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) launched a High Court challenge on Wednesday, arguing that a chief magistrate erred in September when he dismissed the case against Liam O’Hanna, also known as Liam Og O hAnnaidh in Irish, over a technical error.

O’Hanna, who performs under the name Mo Chara, was charged with displaying the flag at a November 21, 2024, concert in London, breaching the United Kingdom’s 2000 Terrorism Act. Kneecap previously said the flag was thrown on stage during their performance and that they “do not, and have never” supported Hezbollah.

In written submissions unveiled in court, the CPS “submits that the Learned judge was wrong to find that the proceedings … were not instituted in the correct form”.

Kneecap – known for their politically charged lyrics and support for Palestinian rights – have said the case is an attempt to distract from what they described as British complicity in Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

The band has called the attempted prosecution of O’Hanna a “British state witch-hunt”.

“Today more Palestinians were murdered by Israel,” Kneecap wrote in a social media post on Wednesday after the court hearing.

“More homes demolished and more children dead due to cold and lack of aid not permitted to enter by Israel. That is the ONLY thing about this whole witch-hunt worth talking about,” the band said, denouncing the legal proceedings as “a waste of public time and public money”

Content removed.

A one state solution is the ultimate goal but is impossible until Israel gives up the apartheid ethno-religious state it is trying to maintain / expand. That along with severe racism and dehumanization make it impossible to live together until a few generations without daily killings have passed.

Free Israel from Neo-Zionism indeed.

A 2 state solution is there to stop the killing and ethnic cleansing and then people can start seeing each other as human beings again, start trusting each other again. How long? Probably as long as it took to get to this point from 1948... Three generations at least.



So far things only keep getting worse.

Palestinians ‘not optimistic’ about second phase of Gaza ceasefire

Palestinians in Gaza have told Al Jazeera the second phase of the ceasefire won’t improve their lives. They say little will change until Israel stops bombing the Strip and allows in more aid. On Wednesday, the US announced it was launching phase two of the ceasefire.

Israel kills 10 in Gaza as US declares phase two of ceasefire deal launched

Israel killed at least 10 Palestinians across Gaza, just as the United States announced that the two sides had progressed to the second phase of a 20-point ceasefire deal with Hamas to end the conflict.

The Wafa news agency reported that the Israeli military bombed two houses belonging to the al-Hawli and the al-Jarou families in the central town of Deir el-Balah on Thursday evening, with health officials confirming a 16-year-old minor was among six killed.

The Israeli military announced that one of the victims, Muhammad al-Hawli, was a commander in the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas.

Reporting from Gaza City, Al Jazeera’s Ibrahim al-Khalili confirmed that a “senior figure of the Qassam Brigades” had been killed and that the attack underscored Israel’s message that it would be defining phase two of the ceasefire “on its terms”.

‘Human remains’ in the rubble

The first phase of Trump’s plan began on October 10 and included a complete ceasefire, the exchange of Israeli captives for Palestinian prisoners, and a surge of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

However, with Israel having maintained a chokehold on supplies entering the enclave, nearly all of the territory’s more than 2 million people are now struggling to survive winter in makeshift homes or damaged buildings.

As Al Jazeera’s al-Khalili put it, “the situation is going from bad to worse for hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians who heard about the announcement of the second phase of the ceasefire, [with] nothing implemented on the ground”.


Jorge Moreira da Silva, head of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) said that conditions were “inhumane” and called for an acceleration of reconstruction work. “We can’t wait, we can’t procrastinate,” he said on Thursday after a visit to the territory.

Da Silva said the launch of phase two of the Gaza truce plan marked a “historical” opportunity to kick-start reconstruction efforts, which he said would require $52bn, according to an assessment conducted by the World Bank, the UN and the European Commission.

In phase two, Shaath said that the committee would focus on providing urgent relief for Gaza, announcing that he would bring in bulldozers to “push the rubble into the sea, and make new islands, new land”.
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/trump-backed-palestinian-who-wants-push-gazas-rubble-into-sea-2026-01-15/

According to Shaath, Israel’s full-scale onslaught on Gaza has left about 60 million tonnes of rubble scattered across the enclave, “with unexploded ordnance in the rubble, dangerous waste, and unfortunately also human remains”.


Push the toxic rubble into the sea? The only place that can sort of feed the population through fishing (which is being stopped by Israel)
https://www.un.org/unispal/document/building-to-starvation-systematic-attacks-on-fishing-in-gaza-and-implications-for-livelihoods-and-protection-may-2025/

This 'peace plan' is nothing but a way to continue the occupation and ethnic cleansing. But that's all there is. 

UN warns Gaza rubble removal may take more than seven years

The executive director of the UN Office for Project Services, Jorge Moreira da Silva, has said the volume of rubble in Gaza has exceeded 60 million tonnes and removing it may take more than seven years.

Following a visit to Gaza, da Silva described the scale of the destruction as unbelievable, stressing that it affected homes, schools, clinics, and water and electricity networks.

He explained that 60 million tonnes of rubble is equivalent to the load of about 3,000 container ships.

Satellite images reveal 80 percent of Gaza’s buildings damaged

Piles of broken concrete, twisted metal and the remains of shattered homes, as far as the eye can see. This isn’t an isolated pocket of destruction – it’s a pattern repeated across the Gaza Strip.

Satellite images show 80 percent of buildings have been at least partially damaged or completely razed by more than two years of Israeli bombardment.

The destruction has created an estimated 61 million tonnes of rubble. That would fill New York City’s Central Park with debris 12 metres (about 39 feet) deep. It’s roughly the same weight as 13 Great Pyramids of Giza.

The rubble isn’t just an obstacle – it’s dangerous. Aid groups warn it may contain unexploded ordnance, toxic materials and unstable structures that could collapse at any moment.

And the technocratic committee wants to push it into the sea...

What did Trump say about the Gaza ‘Board of Peace’?

Trump has said that members of the Gaza “Board of Peace” have been selected and will be announced shortly, adding that he would be the chair.

In a social media post, Trump claimed it would be “the greatest and most prestigious board ever assembled”.

“As chairman of the board, I’m backing a Palestinian technocratic govt and the national committee to govern gaza during its transition. With the support of Egypt, Turkey and Qatar, we will secure a comprehensive demilitarisation agreement with Hamas,” he wrote.

This board is expected to oversee Gaza’s post-war transition and supervise a newly established 15-member Palestinian technocratic committee responsible for day-to-day governance in the enclave.


Gaza reacts to Trump’s ‘board of peace’

“A lot of political decisions are distant from the reality faced in Gaza… our daily life that is filled with blockades, fear, loss, tents, and a terrible humanitarian situation,” said Arwa Ashour, a freelance journalist and writer based in Gaza City. “Even when decisions are made to ease the suffering, they are obstructed by the Israeli occupation authorities.”

“People want everything back like it was before the war: schools, hospitals, travel,” said Arwa Ashour, a freelance journalist and writer based in Gaza City. “If the board of peace is going to resolve all these crises, then we welcome it. But if it’s unable to do so, then what is its benefit

_{Palestinians carry plastic jerrycans filled with water amid stormy weather at a displacement camp in Gaza City on Tuesday}

Ashour explained that after two years of war and more than 18 years of governance in the Palestinian enclave by Hamas, there is a desire for change in Gaza.

“People want to be part of the process of creating the future, not only to accept the implementation of decisions that have already been made,” she said.

The governance model envisaged in the second phase of the ceasefire plan does have a Palestinian component. Ali Shaath, a former Palestinian Authority (PA) deputy minister, will head the Palestinian technocratic committee that will manage daily life. But that committee will be overseen by the Board of Peace, to be led by Bulgaria’s former foreign and defence minister, Nickolay Mladenov.

Mladenov – who has worked as a United Nations diplomat in the Middle East – is seen as an administrator, but one who may not be capable of pushing back against Israel and representing Palestinians in Gaza.

“Decisions made without the meaningful participation of those most affected reproduce the same power structures that enabled this occupation and genocide,” Maha Hussaini, head of media and public engagement at Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, told Al Jazeera. “Excluding Palestinians in Gaza from shaping their future strips them of agency and turns reconstruction and governance into tools of control rather than recovery.”

For Hussaini, justice after a war in which Israel has killed at least 71,400 Palestinians and destroyed vast swathes of the territory cannot be ignored.

“Peace does not mean silence after bombardment, nor a pause between wars,” she said. “For Gaza, peace means safety, dignity, and freedom from collective punishment. It also means justice: recognising the harm suffered, restoring the rights of victims, and holding perpetrators accountable. Without justice, what is called ‘peace’ becomes only a temporary arrangement that leaves the genocide intact.”

Palestinian political analyst Ahmed Fayyad said that ultimately, Palestinians have little choice but to go along with Mladenov and the Board of Peace model, even if there is a sense that they are handing over the administration of Gaza to foreigners.

Israeli spoiler

The announcement of the second phase of the ceasefire – a move that should have been seen as a sign of positive improvement – seems disconnected to the reality on the ground for Palestinians in Gaza.

“There is more fear than hope,” said Hussaini, from the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor. “Not because people in Gaza lack resilience or imagination, but because experience has taught them that moments labelled as ‘turning points’ rarely translate into real protection or accountability. Hope exists, but it is fragile and constantly undermined by the absence of justice and by decisions imposed from outside.”

And the most influential outside force is Israel – the power that has bombarded Gaza not just in the last two years but in several previous wars, and controls access to Gaza, and the air and sea that surrounds it.

“I think Israel tries its best to distance Gaza from any political solutions, which would end with Palestine’s right to self-determination,” said the analyst Fayyad. “Israel wants Gaza to be a disarmed zone; its people’s biggest concerns are the daily struggles of life, without caring about any political solutions.”

“Israel doesn’t want any future political solutions for Gaza. These are the concerns of the Authority and the Palestinians. Israel doesn’t want independence in decision-making in Palestine,” he concluded.

Announcement of second phase brings more Israeli attacks

Israel has scaled up its attacks across Gaza. The latest air strikes were concentrated on the central city of Deir el-Balah, killing at least six Palestinians and wounding many more.

The recent attacks underscore that Israel is trying to keep military options on the table despite the talk of the second phase of the ceasefire agreement starting.

As these attacks happened, panic broke out among residents. They were hoping the second phase would bring more aid and that border crossings would be opened by Israel.

But they found the reality is different. Drones are hovering above at a very low altitude, spreading panic. The situation for hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians remains dire. The shadow of war shows no sign of easing in light of these attacks.

Palestinian woman killed by Israeli fire in southern Gaza

A 62-year-old Palestinian woman has been killed by Israeli gunfire in al-Mawasi in southern Gaza, an Al Jazeera team on the ground is reporting. Injuries have also been reported in the attack.

The killing comes after 10 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza on Thursday. The latest incident on Friday brings the number of Palestinians killed since the October ceasefire to 452, according to data from Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Gaza death toll rises

At least 12 Palestinians have been killed and 18 injured in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, up to 09:00 GMT on Friday, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry.

Two more bodies were recovered from the rubble of previous Israeli attacks, the ministry said in a statement published on Telegram.

Israel has killed 463 and injured 1,269 Palestinians in Gaza since October 10 ceasefire, it added. Since Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza broke out in October 2023, at least 71,455 Palestinians have been killed and 171,347 injured, the ministry concluded.

Disappointment in Gaza at ceasefire’s failure to deliver aid

People on the ground are saying they are not interested in debating governance models for Gaza. What they care about is how their humanitarian needs can be met. They say they’re unable to cope with the current humanitarian calamity that is escalating, compounded by the harsh winter conditions.

They say their needs are massive, with the situation on the ground marked by severe shortages in terms of critical services, education and humanitarian needs.

Gaza needs thousands of tents and houses to shelter those families who have been left stranded after the destruction of their homes. They are living among mountains of rubble that will take years to be removed.

They are watching closely as the Israeli military is still procrastinating over the entry of what is needed. This has been a major source of frustration and disappointment.

People in Gaza say it is a ceasefire in name only, and as long as there is procrastination in meeting these needs, the humanitarian situation will continue to deteriorate rapidly despite the powerful statements put out by NGOs and UN actors.

Palestinians express doubts over phase two amid unfulfilled obligations

Displaced Palestinians in Gaza have expressed scepticism about Trump’s announcement that the second phase of the ceasefire agreement has begun, amid a continuing humanitarian crisis and ongoing Israeli attacks.

“They haven’t even started the first phase yet. How can they start the second?” said Fayeq al-Helou. “We don’t want it to be like every other time, just words on paper.”

Jaber Mohammed said the announcement was “all lies”. “We’ve been suffering for two years and now starting the third,” he said. “We’re suffering from the lack of food and drink, and from high prices.”

Phase one of Trump’s plan was designed to stop the fighting, facilitate the exchange of captives, set a boundary for Israeli withdrawal, allow the full entry of aid and open the Rafah crossing.

But most of the goals under the plan never became a reality on the ground:

• The attacks did not stop, with Israel killing at least 451 Palestinians and wounding 1,251 since October last year.
• All Israeli captives have been returned from Gaza except for the remains of one, while Israel has not released all the Palestinian prisoners agreed on, a member of the Hamas political bureau says.
• Israel was supposed to withdraw its troops to an area demarcated by the so-called “yellow line”, taking up more than half of Gaza. But Al Jazeera has found that Israeli forces have been moving boundary markers, expanding their areas of control.
• The ceasefire stipulated that “full aid will be immediately sent” into Gaza. But Israel continues to restrict aid, with less than half the number of aid trucks entering that were supposed to have been allowed in, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office.
• The Rafah crossing was supposed to open, but it remains closed by Israel.