Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, facing a challenging re-election campaign, publicly rejected the latest component of a US plan aimed at ending the war in Gaza earlier this month.
On Wednesday, August 26, 2026, Nickolay Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza on US President Donald Trump's Board of Peace, warned at the United Nations Security Council of a "point of no return" if the Israel-Hamas ceasefire collapses. He stated that a resumption of fighting in Gaza would leave "no roadmap to return to, there will be no administration to deploy, and there will be nothing left on the ground to rebuild. It would be a point of no return for everyone."
A roadmap agreed upon by Hamas on July 30, 2026, outlined that the decommissioning of weapons would be supervised by the International Stabilization Force, a nascent unit intended to deploy to Gaza if the situation stabilizes. Hamas had pledged to hand over its weapons to a new Palestinian governing body, a move met with skepticism by Netanyahu but hailed by former US President Trump as a breakthrough.
Mladenov also highlighted a second risk to the ceasefire, noting 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." He emphasized that Hamas's commitment to cease all military activities has yet to be fully realized.
The situation remains tense, with recent Israeli airstrikes damaging infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, as seen in Deir al-Balah on August 26, 2026.
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