Fragile Gaza truce faces major challenges

While the Gaza ceasefire is holding the political process meant to turn that fragile truce into a lasting settlement is now facing its biggest test.

The High Representative of the Board of Peace for Gaza, Nickolay Mladenov warned the United Nations Security Council that continued violence, delays in Hamas' disarmament and the slow deployment of an international stabilization force could unravel the Roadmap before it gets off the ground.

The Roadmap, agreed at the end of July, sets out a phased process: weapons are to be removed from factional control and decommissioned under international supervision; the Israeli military withdrawal is then supposed to follow verified progress.

But the problem is that the ceasefire underpinning that process remained tenuous.

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