JERUSALEM — Israel's prime minister says a former U.N. Mideast envoy, Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov, has been chosen to serve as the director-general for U.S. President Donald Trump's Board of Peace aimed at overseeing the peace process in Gaza.
The appointment marks an important step forward for Trump's Mideast peace plan, which has stalled since an October ceasefire ending more than two years of fighting between Israel and Hamas.
Benjamin Netanyahu made the announcement after meeting Mladenov in Jerusalem. The announcement included photos of the two men and a short video, without sound, of them shaking hands.
In the announcement, Netanyahu identified Mladenov as the "designated" director-general for the board, which is meant to oversee the implementation of the second and far more complicated phase of the cease-fire. There was no immediate confirmation from Washington.
Trump is expected to name the members of the board later this month, with Mladenov serving as their on-the-ground representative.
A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the appointment has not been officially announced, confirmed Mladenov is the Trump administration's choice to be the day-to-day administrator of the Board of Peace on the ground.
Under Trump's plan, the board is supposed to supervise a new technocratic Palestinian government, the disarmament of Hamas, the deployment of an international security force, additional pullbacks of Israeli troops and reconstruction.
Mladenov is a former Bulgarian defense and foreign minister who served as the U.N. envoy to Iraq before being appointed as the U.N. Mideast peace envoy from 2015-2020. During that time, he frequently worked to ease tensions between Israel and Hamas.
The first phase of the ceasefire halted the fighting and saw an exchange of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians held by Israel. The deal has largely held, though it has been marred by mutual accusations of violations. Hamas still has not returned the remains of one hostage - an Israeli policeman killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war. Continued Israeli strikes in Gaza, meanwhile, have killed over 400 Palestinians, according to local health officials.
Israel says the strikes have been in response to violations of the deal, but Palestinian health officials say scores of civilians have been among the dead.
Israeli gunfire blamed for death of 11-year-old
Earlier Thursday, a relative of an 11-year-old girl killed in Gaza said that Israeli gunfire was responsible for her death on Thursday. The family had returned to a designated safe zone following the Oct. 10 ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas militant group.
After shells and shrapnel hit her home in northern Gaza's Jabaliya area, Hamsa Housou was taken to Shifa Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, her uncle said.
Outside the hospital mortuary, the uncle, Khamis Housou, told The Associated Press that the family had returned home on Oct. 11, a day after the ceasefire went into effect.
Israel's military said it was not aware of any strike-related casualties in the area on Thursday. The military has previously said that any actions since the ceasefire began have been in response to violations of the agreement.
Housou, who said his niece had dreams of becoming a doctor, recounted how early on Thursday he heard screams as Israeli troops combed the area where shells and shrapnel hit. He ran from his apartment toward the home where Hamsa lived and found her lying on the floor.
He carried the girl to the nearest clinic, only to find the ambulance there had a flat tire. They waited about 15 minutes, he said, before taking her to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
"They say that there is a ceasefire and that the war on Gaza has stopped. Is this only through the media, while every day there are explosions and fire belts?" he asked. "Shooting does not stop. Where is the ceasefire?"
Khamis Housou said that Falluja, the neighborhood in Jabaliya where the family lives, has been subjected to daily shooting by Israeli troops despite being on the western side of the yellow ceasefire line.
'Hamas refuses to disarm'
On Thursday, Egyptian and European Union leaders meeting in Cairo urged the deployment of an international stabilization force in the Gaza Strip to oversee the October ceasefire.
"The situation is extremely severe. Still, Hamas refuses to disarm. It blocks progress to the next state of the peace plan at the same time Israel is also restricting the international NGOs that are putting humanitarian aid access at serious risk," EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.
"There's no justification for the humanitarian situation in Gaza to have deteriorated to the current level," she said.
The phased ceasefire agreement remains in its initial stage as efforts continue to recover the remains of the final hostage in Gaza. Israel's Hostages and Missing Families Forum said on Wednesday that it had been notified that teams had recommenced searching for Ran Gvili. The 24-year-old police officer was abducted on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people and killed around 1,200, mostly civilians, in the attack that triggered the war.
Israeli soldier sentenced
An Israeli soldier seen in a widely circulated social media video firing live ammunition from his post into the Gaza Strip on New Year's Day will serve 20 days in prison, Israel's military said Thursday. Military spokesperson Nadav Shoshani said on X that the unnamed soldier "acted contrary to procedures by firing in an unprofessional manner and not complying with orders."
He said the soldier was firing toward an open area and not at civilians or homes.
Rights groups have long criticized the military's investigations as lacking independence and say wrongdoing is rarely punished. The sentence marked a rare instance of an Israeli soldier facing consequences for conduct in Gaza.
While the military routinely says it investigates alleged violations, most cases don't result in disciplinary action or penalties.
U.N. aid group to open office in Turkey
The head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees warned Thursday that Israeli pressure on the organization risks creating a "huge vacuum" in services.
Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, or UNRWA, told reporters in Ankara that no other body has the capacity or "community trust" to provide health, education, and social services there.
"If the agency cannot or has to stop to operate in Gaza or in the West Bank, this will create a huge vacuum," he said.
Lazzarini was in Turkey for talks with officials on improving humanitarian access in Gaza.
In June, Turkey and UNRWA signed an agreement for the agency to open an office in Ankara. Lazzarini said the office, which is expected to open "within weeks," would initially serve as a liaison and advocacy hub, but could later take on additional functions.
