Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on Wednesday with Nickolay Mladenov, the High Representative for the Gaza Board of Peace, amid growing concerns over Hamas’s military resurgence in the Gaza Strip. Mladenov last met with Netanyahu on May 5.
The meeting came as the ceasefire faces a roadblock with Hamas refusing to disarm, a key term of the second phase of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire plan.
Hamas also continues to violate the terms of the first phase of the truce, launching attacks against Israeli forces.
ראש הממשלה בנימין נתניהו נפגש בלשכתו בירושלים עם הנציב העליון של ״מועצת השלום״ לעזה, ניקולאי מלאדנוב וצוותו. pic.twitter.com/m16zyZZHDn
— ראש ממשלת ישראל (@IsraeliPM_heb) May 13, 2026
Earlier this week, Israel’s Channel 13 reported that a recently presented intelligence document warned that Hamas is engaged in significant reconstruction efforts, including the domestic production of hundreds of explosive devices, mortars and anti-tank rockets each month.
According to the report, Hamas is also gathering intelligence on Israel Defense Forces operations in Gaza and conducting military training exercises despite the continued Israeli military presence in the enclave.
In another sign that Hamas is strengthening, Kan News reported on Tuesday that the terror group blocked Gazan contractors last week from reaching an area in Rafah designated for a new Palestinian city under the Trump administration’s peace plan.
The contractors said that armed Hamas members forced them to turn back even though they had been sent there in coordination with the IDF and the Civil Military Coordination Center (CMCC), the headquarters set up in the Israeli city of Kiryat Gat to manage stabilization efforts in Gaza, according to the report.
The workers were starting construction on “New Rafah,” a plan for 100,000-plus housing units, which was unveiled by Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and special advisor, at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January.
The incident marks the first time Hamas has actively interfered in an activity coordinated by the CMCC and the Board of Peace, the body set up by the Trump administration to oversee the Gaza peace plan, according to the report.
