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Palestinian Authority Vice President Hussein al-Sheikh met Friday with former UN Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov, who is expected to serve as a top official for the supervisory US‑backed Board of Peace in Gaza.
The meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah came a day after Mladenov held talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and met with President Isaac Herzog.
Mladenov, a Bulgarian diplomat, served as the United Nations envoy for the Middle East peace process from early 2015 until the end of 2020. During that time, he frequently worked to ease tensions and broker ceasefires between Israel and Hamas.
Mladenov is expected to serve as the representative on the ground in Gaza for the Board of Peace — a transitional body for the war-torn territory.
In a statement on X, Sheikh said that during his meeting with Mladenov, “an in-depth discussion took place on all political and field developments in the Palestinian territories.”
He added that there was “a focus on the situation in the Gaza Strip, means of transitioning to the second phase [of the Gaza ceasefire], mechanisms for implementing… Trump’s plan, and UN Security Council Resolution 2803.”
Under Trump’s 20-point plan, Gaza will be governed by a transitional technocratic Palestinian committee under the oversight and supervision of the Board of Peace.
Trump is expected to announce the Board of Peace next week.
The US is hoping to announce its makeup so that some initial fundraising can be conducted before the first meeting of the panel is held the following week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, a US official and two Arab diplomats have told The Times of Israel.
It is unclear whether the announcement will also address the makeup of the International Stabilization Force (ISF), which is tasked with phasing out Israeli forces in Gaza. The US has struggled to get countries to contribute troops.
Washington still plans to have an intermediate executive committee be more closely involved in oversight than the Board of Peace, with Trump’s top advisers Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff expected to participate along with former UK prime minister Tony Blair, while Mladenov will be responsible for liaising with the Palestinian technocratic committee in Gaza.
Egypt has been leading efforts to establish the Palestinian technocratic committee, while consulting with the US, Israel and the various Palestinian factions.
While the West Bank-based PA has pushed for one of its ministers to join or even head the committee, Israel vetoed this idea outright. Instead, one member of the technocratic committee is slated to be a former PA official, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
The first phase of the October ceasefire halted the fighting and saw the release of the remaining living hostages held by Hamas. The deal has largely held, though it has been marred by mutual accusations of violations.
Hamas still has not returned the remains of police officer Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, who was killed in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack that triggered the war, or agreed to disarm, both of which Israel has insisted must occur before transitioning to the truce’s next stage.
Trump told Netanyahu during their meeting last week at the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida that he wants to quickly advance to the second phase of the ceasefire deal, a US official has told The Times of Israel, adding that the premier raised concerns but said Israel would cooperate with the effort.
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