The remains of the last hostage taken by Hamas on 7 October 2023 was returned on Monday evening to Israel raising hopes for preserving the fragile ceasefire and launching the transition to the second phase of US President Trump’s 20-point peace plan after his Board of Peace was established at Davos last week.
The hostage, Ran Gvili, a police officer, who was killed on 7 October after rushing to rescue participants in a rave festival and then to defend a kibbutz close to the border to Gaza, was found buried in a mass grave in Gaza following new intelligence information. He was the last of 255 living and deceased hostages to be returned. The search for his body delayed the implementation of the peace plan.
In Israel, the news of his return put the country in a euphoric mood with hopes for the start of a recovery process after the 7 October attack. This, however, is unlikely to happen, in the current polarized and toxic situation with deep disagreements about Prime-Minister Netanyahu’s responsibility. Both government and opposition are preparing for the elections in October 2026.
Until now, under pressure of his extremist coalition parties, he used the slightest violation by Hamas of the ceasefire agreement to stall any progress in the peace process. The return of the last hostage is the fulfillment of one of his goals in the Gaza war but could have happened earlier when most of the hostages were still alive and without devastating Gaza which now needs to be rebuilt.
The other goals were the disarmament of Hamas, the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, continued Israeli security control of the area, and an alternative to Hamas - but not the Palestinian Authority (PA) which his government boycotts. The involvement of the PA, whose reform programme is funded by the EU, would present a credible pathway towards the implementation of the two-state solution.
Netanyahu's first priority now is the disarmament of Hamas and the dismantling of its military infrastructure. “The next phase is not reconstruction,” he said in a speech in the Israeli parliament yesterday, welcoming the Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama. “The next phase is disarming Hamas and the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip.”
Quoting President Trump, he added that, “It will happen the easy way, or the hard way but it will happen”. Trump also wants Hamas to be disarmed and believes that it will happen as “they promised” although it will not happen immediately. The issue is crucial and depends on the mandate of the International Stabilizing Force (ISF) which has not yet been deployed.
Most countries that have expressed willingness to participate in the ISF are reluctant to confront Hamas. The organisation has resumed its control of the half of the Gaza Strip from which the Israeli troops withdrew. Nor is it likely that the thousands of Palestinian police currently trained by EU Police and Rule of Law Mission (EUPOL COPPS) would be fit for the task assuming that they will be deployed in Gaza.
Hamas has an interest in transitioning to the second phase of Trump’s peace plan. The plan includes the opening of the Rafah border crossing to Egypt, the increase of humanitarian aid into Gaza, the restoring of basic infrastructure, the start of the reconstruction of Gaza, and the withdrawal of the Israeli troops to a buffer zone along the border.
The restoring of services and the reconstruction of Gaza will be managed by a technocratic committee (‘National Committee for the Administration of Gaza’) consisting of 15 Palestinian officials and experts with links to the former civilian Hamas administration and the Palestinian Authority. Each member is responsible for a specific policy area.
The opening of the Rafah crossing will launch the second phase of the peace plan. Despite that it was agreed last week between Israel and Egypt that it would be opened in both directions, allowing Gazans to leave and return to Gaza, and to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, it was still closed yesterday.
The EU Border Assistance Mission to Rafah (EUBAM), which is supposed to monitor the border crossing assisting Palestinian police staff, was still on stand-by as it was during the war, a spokesperson of the European Commission told The Brussels Times. After the return of the last hostage, it is expected to be opened any day.
The technocratic committee is waiting to enter Gaza to start its work as soon as possible. The work will be supervised by the Board of Peace, chaired by Trump with unlimited powers. About 25 countries have until now agreed to be represented in the board, among them two EU Member States (Hungary and Bulgaria). EU was also invited but declined joining it questioning its governance system.
“Member States have different positions on the Board of Peace and not all of them were invited,” explained a high-ranking EU official at a press briefing ahead of the foreign affairs council meeting on Thursday. There is no common EU position on how it squares with UN Security Council Resolution (2803) last November which endorsed Trump’s peace plan. “We’ll give the Member States the benefit of the doubt.”
The charter of the Board of Peace did not even mention Gaza, “emphasizing the need for a more nimble and effective international peace-building body”. This raised suspicions that the board was intended to replace the UN. “If we narrow it down for Gaza, like it was meant to be, then we can also work with it,” commented EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, last week.
Nickolay Mladenev, a Bulgarian politician and diplomat, has been appointed as High Representative and Director-General of the Board of Peace. He will serve as the key interlocutor between the board and the Palestinian technocratic committee and has already started his job. According to the EU-official, Mladenev is in contact with the EU and will play an important role.
Update: A Commission spokesperson added that the EU is waiting for progress to be made in the transition to the second phase of the peace plan. Demilitarization of Hamas and reconstruction of Gaza for the benefit of the civilian population must go hand in hand. The EU will make full use of its two missions (EUBAN and EUPOL COPPS) and continue to support the PA, including its on-going reform programme.
