Netanyahu Meets Former UN Envoy as Trump-Backed Gaza Board of Peace Takes Shape
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on Thursday in Jerusalem with Bulgarian diplomat and former UN Mideast envoy Nickolay Mladenov as Israel and the Trump administration advance a proposed new body meant to manage key parts of Gaza’s postwar transition and the next stage of the October ceasefire.
Mladenov, who served as UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process from 2015 to 2020, has been presented as the designated director-general for the proposed Board of Peace, though the designation was described as not yet publicly confirmed by Washington. Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, also met Mladenov.
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The transition plan envisions an international security or stabilization force and a temporary technocratic Palestinian administration that would exclude Hamas. It would also supervise implementation of a more complex phase of the ceasefire, including additional Israeli troop pullbacks, reconstruction, and steps tied to Hamas disarmament.
A senior US official was quoted describing Mladenov as the intended day-to-day administrator on the ground, with the US also planning an additional oversight layer via an intermediate executive committee expected to include Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff, and former UK prime minister Tony Blair, plus a separate Palestinian technocratic committee with which Mladenov would liaise.
Netanyahu’s office said he reiterated Israel’s core conditions for moving forward: Hamas must be disarmed and Gaza demilitarized, aligning the push with President Donald Trump’s 20-point framework, and must also return the remains of an Israeli police officer, Ran Gvili, killed during the October 7 attack.
