• Nickolay Mladenov named director-general of Trump’s Board of Peace for Gaza.
• Israeli PM Netanyahu announced the appointment after meeting Mladenov in Jerusalem.
• The board's role will include overseeing a new Palestinian government and disarming Hamas.
• Continued Israeli strikes have resulted in over 400 Palestinian deaths since the October ceasefire.
• International leaders call for deployment of stabilization forces in Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appointed Nickolay Mladenov, a Bulgarian diplomat and former U.N. Middle East envoy, to serve as director-general of President Trump’s proposed Board of Peace for Gaza. This announcement, made in Jerusalem, marks a critical step in Trump's initiative aimed at guiding the complex peace process following a ceasefire that ended over two years of hostilities between Israel and Hamas, according to latimes, aljazeera, and scmp.

Mladenov previously held significant positions, including Bulgarian defense and foreign minister, and served as the U.N. envoy to Iraq before his role in the Middle East from 2015 to 2020. His appointment is particularly relevant as it comes during a time when the ceasefire, initiated in October, has been threatened by ongoing Israeli military actions that have led to extensive Palestinian casualties, with at least 425 reported deaths since the truce began, as per local health officials, according to latimes and scmp.

The planned Board of Peace is set to take charge of various key aspects of governance and security in the region, including supporting a new technocratic Palestinian government and overseeing the disarmament of Hamas. The U.S. administration has touted this board as a vital component of peace efforts, but limited progress has been noted, raising concerns about the feasibility of the laid plans, according to aljazeera and scmp.

As the situation in Gaza remains dire, international calls for the deployment of stabilization forces to monitor the ceasefire have intensified. Leaders from Egypt and the European Union have expressed alarm over the humanitarian conditions in the region, urging immediate action to facilitate peace and improve assistance to the beleaguered population, as noted by officials in the reports from latimes and aljazeera.