Bulgarian diplomat Nikolay Mladenov, who is overseeing the U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Gaza, said the ongoing ceasefire violations pose a significant obstacle to the work of the Palestinian committee set to take over post-war governance and reconstruction of the enclave, the Associated Press reported.
Mladenov, who is the top representative for Gaza on the Washington-created Peace Council, made the remarks during a panel discussion at the Munich Security Conference. The international council set up by US President Donald Trump is expected to meet next week.
The transitional committee, made up of Palestinian leaders, is holding its first meeting in Egypt but has not yet entered Gaza. Mladenov said that will not happen until Hamas, the armed group that has ruled Gaza since 2007, relinquishes institutional control. He also called for increased humanitarian aid and improved security.
The agreement calls for Hamas to lay down its arms and for international security forces to be deployed in the enclave, but there has been no tangible progress on either issue. Israel has continued to carry out strikes it says are in response to ceasefire violations. Palestinian militants are also attacking Israeli forces.
"We need to make sure that what is happening now with the ceasefire violations stops," Mladenov said. "This only puts the committee in an awkward position and ultimately makes it ineffective."
Speaking at the same panel, Palestinian Foreign Minister Warsen Aghabekyan Shaheen said that the key here is the timeline, adding that Gaza should not be separated from the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The Palestinian Authority wants to govern both territories before the eventual creation of a Palestinian state, but Israel is adamantly opposed.
The US-brokered ceasefire on October 10 is an attempt to end the war between Israel and "Hamas".
Although the fiercest fighting has subsided, Israeli shelling continues almost daily despite the ceasefire. Israeli forces carry out airstrikes and often shoot Palestinians near areas under military control. The number of Palestinians killed in this way is 591, according to health authorities in Gaza.
Gunmen have carried out gun attacks on the Israeli army, which Israel says is in response to these and other ceasefire violations. Four Israeli soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire began.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Bulgarian diplomat Nikolay Mladenov as the director general of the council, which will oversee the implementation of the far more complex second phase of the ceasefire, the Associated Press notes.