Board of Peace expresses concern over current situation in Gaza for survival of the population

Nickolay Mladenov, senior representative of the Board of Peace, during a press conference in Jerusalem on May 13, 2026. AMMAR AWAD/REUTERS The status quo in Gaza directly threatens the lives of the enclave's two million residents. Speaking to the media for the first time on Wednesday, May 13, in Jerusalem, Nickolay Mladenov, the senior representative of the Board of Peace established by US President Donald Trump, stressed the "urgency" of making progress on the peace plan, which has stalled seven months after going into effect in October 2025. "The people of Gaza can no longer wait. They're impatient and let me be clear where that impatience comes from. It is Palestinian impatience. It is not Israeli impatience. It is not American impatience. It is Palestinian impatience," said the Bulgarian diplomat, describing the extremely difficult conditions facing the 2.1 million residents trapped in an enclave that the Israeli military has almost entirely destroyed, with roughly 60% of its territory lost to the military occupation of a broad border area with Israel. "We have a ceasefire. It is holding. It is not perfect. It is far from perfect," said Mladenov, despite the near-daily Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip. "The central fact of the matter is that the guns have largely fallen silent in the last year across Gaza and, for the first time in two years, we have relative stability," added the former United Nations coordinator for Middle East peace. He acknowledged, however, that the current situation is unsatisfactory: "There are violations every day and some of them are very serious. And let's be honest about these violations and what they mean in practice. They mean that civilians are still being killed, that families live in fear, that delays and restrictions continue to affect humanitarian access and daily life." More than 800 Palestinians, many of them civilians, have been killed by the Israeli military in Gaza since the supposed end of hostilities in October 2025, bringing the total to more than 72,000 since October 2023. Five soldiers have died in fighting inside the enclave over the past seven months. You have 58.72% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.