Israel-Hamas truce failure ‘point of no return,’ envoy warns

SaveSharefacebookxwhatsapp-strokecopylinkPalestinians walk past a food aid warehouse destroyed in an Israeli air strike that targeted a nearby house in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza on August 26, 2026 [Abdel Kareem Hana/AP]By Mariamne Everett and AFPPublished On 26 Aug 202626 Aug 2026The failure of the Gaza ceasefire process would be a “point of no return”, the lead official for the enclave on United States President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace has warned.Nickolay Mladenov, the board’s high representative for Gaza, made the remark on Wednesday in a statement to the United Nations Security Council.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Fatah meets Palestinian breakaway faction in effort to head off rivalslist 2 of 3Israel accused of using kites as pretext to justify escalating Gaza attackslist 3 of 3Israeli strikes hit water plant, warehouse in Gaza, killing at least sevenend of listThe assertion followed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s public rejection of Trump’s 15-point peace plan that Washington says is aimed at ending Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.A resumption of fighting in Gaza would mean there would be “no roadmap to return to, there will be no administration to deploy and there will be nothing left on the ground to rebuild. That would not be a setback. It would be a point of no return for everyone,” Mladenov told the council.Gaza’s Ministry of Health said at least 1,288 Palestinians have been killed and 4,290 wounded since a US-brokered “ceasefire” came into effect in October.At least 73,422 Palestinians have been killed since attacks by Hamas and other Palestinian groups in southern Israel resulted in about 1,200 people killed and 240 taken captive on October 7, 2023. That same day, Israel began its war on Gaza.Hamas agreed on July 30 to the US roadmap aimed at moving the ceasefire plan forward. Under it, the decommissioning of weapons would be supervised by an International Stabilization Force, a nascent unit led by US Major General Jasper Jeffers that will be deployed to Gaza if the situation calms.Hamas has pledged to hand over its weapons to a new Palestinian governing body, a framework that Netanyahu immediately opposed even as Trump hailed the plan as a breakthrough. This month, Netanyahu said Israel would not ⁠⁠withdraw any of its forces until Hamas ⁠⁠fully disarms.The emerging National Committee for the Administration of Gaza would be made up of independent Palestinian technocrats with the responsibility of managing day-to-day civil service and humanitarian relief.“For the first time, Hamas and the armed factions in Gaza have agreed to hand over their weapons and to transfer full governing authority – both civilian and security – to a transitional administration recognised by the United Nations,” Mladenov told the UN.He added that “the second risk [to the ceasefire] runs in the opposite direction. Hamas has committed to cease all military activities. That commitment is still to be met in full.”Mladenov emphasised that “every weapon carried, every tunnel still worked on and every convoy still obstructed sets the process back and hands an argument to those who want to resume war.”Meanwhile, Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN, told the Security Council that Israeli annexations of Palestinian land are killing prospects for regional peace.Noting the recent release of bidding tenders for the E1 settlement project in the occupied West Bank, he accused the Israeli government of intentionally undermining the 15-point peace plan.