Hamas accused the Director-General of the Peace Committee, Nickolay Mladenov, of adopting the Israeli government's narrative in the dispute over the entry of private sector goods into the Gaza Strip. In a statement released on Friday, Hamas rejected Mladenov's accusations of "coercion," calling his stance "blatantly biased and complicit with the occupation and its pretexts aimed at obstructing the entry of goods." Mladenov stated on social media on Thursday that he had received a report from the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Palestinian Territories (COGAT), an agency under the Israeli Ministry of Defense, which attributed the suspension of private sector goods entry to threats and coercion by Hamas. Hamas described Israel's accusations regarding its taxation and threats to merchants as "groundless."