--- title: "Gaza's Reconstruction Stalled | Model Diplomat" description: "Gaza's reconstruction is frozen as disarmament talks stall among Israel, Hamas, and US negotiators, turning rebuilding into a tool of political leverage." url: "https://modeldiplomat.com/story/gazas-reconstruction-stalled-disarmament-and-political-leverage" --- # Gaza's Reconstruction Stalled US plans for Gaza hinge on disarmament amid stalled reconstruction. Model DiplomatMay 21, 20263 min readMiddle East [Posted by Virginia PietromarchiAl Jazeera – Breaking News, World News and Video from Al Jazeera](https://www.aljazeera.com/sitemap.xml%253Fyyyy=2025/page/27187%3Futm_source=openai%253Fgb%253Dtrue/page/27396?dd=09%3Fgb%3Dtrue%3Fgb%3Dtrue%3Fgb%3Dtrue\&mm=03)[BookmarkingdepotThe influence overreach investigation a deep dive](https://bookmarkingdepot.com/story21282716/the-influence-overreach-investigation-a-deep-dive)[TheindependentArticle ae0d05d3 e183 5bdb 9a9b d39d96f76be6.html](https://theindependent.com/article_ae0d05d3-e183-5bdb-9a9b-d39d96f76be6.html) ## Gaza’s Next Phase Is Stuck on One Question *US-backed plans for Gaza now hinge on disarmament, but Hamas, Israel, and donors each hold a veto. That is freezing reconstruction and hardening partition.* Nickolay Mladenov told the UN Security Council on Thursday that Gaza’s postwar status quo risks becoming **permanent**, with Hamas retaining control over “less than half the territory” while reconstruction remains blocked and Israeli forces still hold more than half of the Strip, according to [Al Jazeera](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/5/21/board-of-peace-envoy-warns-permanent-gaza-divide-under-current-status-quo "aljazeera.com") and [AFP via Gulf News](https://gulfnews.com/world/mena/trump-peace-board-gaza-envoy-warns-imperfect-ceasefire-risks-being-permanent-1.500549249 "gulfnews.com"). The point of his warning is simple: the deal is no longer being driven by battlefield momentum, but by who is willing to move first on disarmament, withdrawals, and money. ## The leverage is now political, not military The Board of Peace, created by the US in January, is trying to turn a fragile ceasefire into a sequenced transition: Hamas disarms, Israeli forces pull back, technocratic Palestinian administrators move in, and reconstruction starts. But that sequence only works if all sides comply. As [Al Jazeera](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/5/13/board-of-peaces-mladenov-says-gaza-ceasefire-hinges-on-hamas-disarmament "aljazeera.com") reported earlier this month, Mladenov has made clear that Hamas does not have to “disappear” as a political movement, but its arsenal is “not negotiable.” [Al Arabiya via AFP](https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2026/05/20/board-of-peace-report-accuses-hamas-of-blocking-gaza-progress "english.alarabiya.net") says the board’s first report to the UN Security Council calls Hamas’s refusal to accept verified decommissioning the “principal obstacle” to moving into phase two. That framing matters because it shifts blame, but it does not solve the bargaining problem. Hamas can still deny legitimacy to any plan that demands surrender without a full Israeli withdrawal. Israel can keep arguing that no withdrawal is safe while Hamas retains weapons and administrative control. The US can press both sides, but it does not control Gaza on the ground. ## Who gains from delay Delay favors the actors who already possess facts on the ground. Israel retains control over access, movement, and more than half of Gaza’s territory, which gives Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government a strong hand in deciding whether phase two ever begins, according to [Al Jazeera](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/5/21/board-of-peace-envoy-warns-permanent-gaza-divide-under-current-status-quo "aljazeera.com") and [AFP](https://gulfnews.com/world/mena/trump-peace-board-gaza-envoy-warns-imperfect-ceasefire-risks-being-permanent-1.500549249 "gulfnews.com"). Hamas, meanwhile, preserves local coercive power by refusing to lay down arms. The losers are the civilians trapped between those positions: [Al Jazeera](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/5/21/board-of-peace-envoy-warns-permanent-gaza-divide-under-current-status-quo "aljazeera.com") says more than 72,775 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, while hundreds more have died since the ceasefire, and reconstruction remains stuck behind the weaponization of aid. This is also where the external money matters. Donors are unlikely to finance large-scale rebuilding into an environment that still looks like active contestation. That makes the Board of Peace less a reconstruction engine than a political gatekeeper. Until the security question is settled, the aid question will not move. For a wider read on how this fits the regional balance, see [Global Politics](https://modeldiplomat.com/discover/general "modeldiplomat.com") and [Conflict](https://modeldiplomat.com/discover/conflict "modeldiplomat.com"). ## What to watch next The next decision point is whether the UN Security Council gives Mladenov’s roadmap political backing, and whether Washington pushes Israel and Hamas toward a concrete phase-two timetable. Watch for any Israeli move to expand or freeze its current control lines, and for any signal that aid flows or reconstruction financing will be tied to verified disarmament. If that link holds, Gaza’s ceasefire will remain a holding pattern, not a settlement. 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