Gaza ceasefire could hit 'point of no return', envoy says

Nickolay Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza in US President Donald Trump's Board of Peace, warned the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday that a collapse of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire could become a “point of no return”.

A resumption of fighting in Gaza would mean “no roadmap to return to, there will be no administration to deploy, and there will be nothing left on the ground to rebuild,” Mladenov said. “That would not be a setback. It would be a point of no return for everyone.”

Mladenov said Hamas had committed to cease all military activities, but added that “that commitment is still to be met in full”. He said every weapon carried, tunnel worked on and convoy obstructed set the process back and strengthened arguments for resuming war.

A roadmap agreed by Hamas on July 30 said the decommissioning of weapons would be supervised by the International Stabilization Force, a unit intended to deploy to Gaza if the situation calms. The force is led by US Major General Jasper Jeffers.

Hamas had pledged to hand over its weapons to a new Palestinian governing body, an arrangement that brought skepticism from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but which Trump described as a breakthrough. Netanyahu earlier this month publicly rejected the latest part of the US plan.

The warning added to pressure on the fragile US-backed truce. Israel's army chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said Tuesday that Israel would continue to pursue Gaza's demilitarisation and the disarming of Hamas. A US-backed ceasefire came into effect in October 2025, but bloodshed has continued in Gaza.