Board of Peace Chief Mladenov Warns Gaza Ceasefire Collapse Would Be 'Point of No Return'

August 26, 2026 — Nickolay Mladenov, the US-backed Board of Peace's high representative for Gaza, told the UN Security Council that a resumption of fighting in Gaza would be irreversible: "That would not be a setback. It would be a point of no return for everyone" — warning that a collapsed ceasefire would leave "no road map to return to," no administration to deploy, and "nothing left on the ground to rebuild." Mladenov said Gaza "does not have another catastrophe left in it," and credited Hamas and Palestinian armed factions for agreeing, for the first time, to hand over their weapons and transfer governing authority to a transitional, UN-recognized administration overseen by the International Stabilisation Force — while cautioning that "every weapon carried, every tunnel still worked on and every convoy still obstructed sets the process back." He also criticized Israel's continued strikes on Gaza, which have kept civilian casualties from fully stopping despite the nominal ceasefire, warning the alternative to the US-backed plan is "the next war." The briefing came days after Israeli PM Netanyahu voiced rejection of elements of the Board's 15-point disarmament roadmap, and after US Ambassador Mike Waltz criticized civil-society representatives for not addressing alleged Hamas abuses.