Board of Peace envoy meets with Netanyahu on Gaza disarmament deal and urges a halt to strikes

JERUSALEM, Israel (AP) — The Board of Peace official overseeing Gaza’s postwar transition met on Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu , according to a statement, in part to discuss a new disarmament deal the board had reached with the militant Hamas group.
Nikolay Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza, held “constructive and detailed” talks with Netanyahu and his team, the Board of Peace said in a statement.
“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,” it said, referring to the embattled enclave.
Mladenov also pressed Netanyahu to halt Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip, according to two people familiar with the meeting. Mladenov and his team, including senior adviser Aryeh Lightstone, are pressuring Israel to stop striking Gaza as they push ahead with the agreement to decommission the weapons held by Hamas.
In a statement Monday, Hamas said the group and various other Palestinian factions “remain committed to what was agreed regarding the implementation of the second phase of the ceasefire agreement, including all parties’…


