Aid chief tells UN that US-backed Board of Peace is 'failing' Gaza
The head of a coalition of aid groups has warned that the US-backed Board of Peace is "failing" in Gaza and has “functioned to further entrench Israel’s unlawful presence" in the territory.
Athena Rayburn, executive director of the Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA), told the UN Security Council that the organisation – established by US President Donald Trump and given a mandate by the council in November – was enabling Israel's obstruction of humanitarian aid.
She said Israel was rejecting scissors, crutches, wheelchairs and prosthetic limbs as “dual-use” instruments, has barred specialised medical staff, and placed restrictions on engine oil so severe that it cost 45 times its normal price.
Israel also rejected watermelon and onions under an unpublished “humanitarian policy”.
"What is unclear is why the mandate handed by this council to the Board of Peace is being used to violate the most fundamental rights of the Palestinians in Gaza and the most basic rules of humanitarian law," Rayburn said. "This cannot be the new status quo."
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At least 1,303 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since a supposed ceasefire began in October 2025.
So far, a total of 73,438 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the genocide in October 2023.
'Point of no return'
Israel now controls more than 60 percent of the enclave, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu even saying earlier this month that the aim is to increase to around 70 percent.
The Board of Peace has linked any Israeli withdrawal beyond the Yellow Line – which divides Gaza into areas occupied by Israeli and Palestinian control – to the complete disarmament of Hamas.
The UN's high representative for Gaza warned on Wednesday of a "point of no return" if the Israel-Hamas ceasefire collapsed.
A resumption of fighting in Gaza would mean "no roadmap to return to, there will be no administration to deploy, and there will be nothing left on the ground to rebuild. That would not be a setback. It would be a point of no return for everyone," Nickolay Mladenov told the UN Security Council.
A roadmap agreed by Hamas on 30 July stated that the decommissioning of weapons would be supervised by the International Stabilisation Force, which has yet to deploy to Gaza.
Mladenov said "the second risk [to the ceasefire] runs in the opposite direction. Hamas has committed to cease all military activities. That commitment is still to be met in full.
"Every weapon carried, every tunnel still worked on, and every convoy still obstructed sets the process back and hands an argument to those who want to resume war," he added.
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