People mourn after 22-year-old Yahya al-Arec was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on 4 May 2026. [Getty]
The Trump-led Board of Peace’s Gaza envoy will hold talks with senior Israeli officials on Monday amid reports the Israeli military is preparing to intensify attacks in the devastated enclave.
Nickolay Mladenov is expected to ask Israel to limit its military operations and ease restrictions on humanitarian aid entering the strip, according to Israel Army Radio.
The Bulgarian diplomat’s trip comes as part of efforts to hold together the ceasefire amid near-daily Israeli attacks in Gaza.
Mladenov has been in negotiations with Hamas officials in Cairo about demilitarising the territory and had handed the group an 11 April deadline to agree to a plan for its gradual disarmament.
Hamas has previously conditioned its disarmament on Israel agreeing to the creation of a Palestinian state.
Hamas rejected the proposal, reportedly telling mediators it would not discuss the second phase of the ceasefire until Israel implements the terms of the first.
Israel has largely ignored the terms of the October ceasefire, which was supposed to see an end to attacks and the withdrawal of Israeli forces to an area of land comprising roughly half of the strip.
But over the past six months, it has continued to launch constant attacks, raze infrastructure to the ground, and seize more territory deeper into Gaza.
At least 832 Palestinians have been killed and another 2,354 injured since the ceasefire came into effect on 10 October, according to Gaza health ministry figures.
It has also continued to restrict the entry of aid into the territory, depriving Palestinians of vital goods and medical supplies amid dire humanitarian conditions.
The second phase of Trump’s peace plan envisions Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, the disarmament of Palestinian groups and the start of the territory’s reconstruction.
Mladenov’s visit comes as senior Israeli military officials reportedly push to launch a full-scale offensive on Gaza to “decisively defeat Hamas”.
Far-right ministers in the government have railed against the ceasefire, arguing that the military should complete the destruction of Gaza and forcibly transfer its population to third countries.
