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Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu met Monday with Board of Peace Director-General Mladenov and senior members of the organization’s team as efforts to implement President Trump’s Gaza peace initiative entered what officials described as the “hard phase” of negotiations.
The meeting focused on the next stage of the plan: the decommissioning of weapons in Gaza, the transition to civilian governance, and the creation of what both sides described as a safer future for Israelis and Palestinians.
According to the Board of Peace, the talks were “constructive and detailed,” with Israel and the organization sharing “a common understanding of the ultimate objectives.”
“The goal is clear and is not in question: the complete decommissioning of weapons in the Strip and the transition away from rule by the gun to civilian governance,” the Board said in a statement. “Reaching it will be a process. And that process will be set out in the next phase of the work.”
The organization also pushed back against what it called inaccurate reporting surrounding the framework, stressing that the Israel Defense Forces would withdraw beyond the Yellow Line only after Hamas has completed its commitment to surrender all weapons.
“This applies to light weapons, heavy weapons, and the tunnels alike,” the statement said.
Implementation of the agreement would be supervised by the International Stablization Force (ISF) together with the Implementation Verification Committee, on which both the United States and the Board of Peace serve. The Board added that continued progress depends on all parties fulfilling their commitments under the agreed framework.
Following the meeting, Mladenov acknowledged the difficult work ahead.
“Long day in Jerusalem, sitting down with Prime Minister Netanyahu and his team,” he wrote on X. “This is the start of the hard phase and I have never pretended otherwise. Not much of what we do now is dramatic. It is slow, grinding and technical work.”
The latest meeting comes days after the Board of Peace rejected criticism from Israeli cabinet ministers Smotrich and Orit Strock, who called on Netanyahu to halt the deployment of the proposed International Stabilization Force into Gaza.
“We are not getting involved in internal Israeli politics. We are concentrating on implementation,” a Board of Peace official told i24NEWS.
The official said the organization remains focused on implementing President Trump’s peace plan, describing the proposal as “a pragmatic path forward to transform Gaza by removing Hamas from power and seeing it hand over its weapons,” while improving living conditions in Gaza and strengthening Israel’s security.
Smotrich and Strock argued that the roadmap presented publicly differed from the version approved by the Israeli cabinet. In a letter to Netanyahu, they claimed the plan weakened Hamas’ disarmament requirements, permitted an Israeli withdrawal before full demilitarization, and could restrict Israel’s future military freedom of action.
The Board’s latest statement directly addressed one of those criticisms, emphasizing that a full Israeli withdrawal will occur only after Hamas has surrendered all light and heavy weapons and dismantled its tunnel network.
The meeting follows weeks of intensive mediation by the Board of Peace, Egypt, Türkiye, Qatar and the United States aimed at launching the first phase of the Gaza roadmap.
