The United Nations Security Council is preparing to vote on Monday on a United States drafted resolution that seeks to strengthen former president Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan, including the deployment of an international force to stabilise the territory. Washington has warned that failure to act promptly could risk a return to large scale hostilities between Israel and Hamas.
The draft resolution, revised repeatedly during intense negotiations, formally endorses the plan behind the fragile ceasefire that began on October ten. The Gaza Strip has been left devastated after two years of conflict that followed the Hamas attack on Israel in October two thousand twenty three. Large parts of the territory have been reduced to rubble and humanitarian conditions remain dire.
According to the latest version seen by AFP, the resolution authorises the creation of an International Stabilisation Force. This force would cooperate with Israel, Egypt and newly trained Palestinian police units to secure border crossings and work toward the demilitarisation of Gaza. It would be tasked with permanently decommissioning weapons belonging to non state armed groups, securing humanitarian corridors and protecting civilians.
The draft also proposes the formation of a Board of Peace, a transitional governing body for Gaza that would operate until the end of two thousand twenty seven. Under the plan, Trump would theoretically chair this body. In a notable shift from earlier drafts, the current text mentions the possibility of a future Palestinian state, suggesting that once the Palestinian Authority carries out required reforms and reconstruction efforts begin, conditions may emerge for a credible path to Palestinian self determination. Israel has strongly rejected that idea.
Hamas and other Palestinian groups have criticised the proposal, saying it would place decision making in foreign hands and undermine Palestinian authority. They worry that the international force would impose external control over Gaza’s governance and reconstruction. These groups insist that humanitarian assistance should be handled by Palestinian institutions under United Nations supervision, and they reject any requirement to disarm or limit resistance activities.
The Security Council vote is scheduled for twenty two hundred GMT or three in the morning Tuesday in Pakistan.
Meanwhile, Russia has circulated its own competing resolution. Moscow argues that the United States draft does not go far enough in supporting the establishment of a Palestinian state. The Russian document emphasises the two state solution and does not endorse the creation of a Board of Peace or the immediate deployment of an international force. Instead, it asks United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres to provide further options on those issues.
The United States has intensified its efforts to secure votes, criticising what it calls attempts to sow division within the Council. Several Arab and Muslim majority nations, including Qatar, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Jordan and Turkey, have signed a joint statement backing the United States text.
Diplomats say the United States draft is still expected to pass, even with Russian objections. Analysts believe Russia and China may abstain rather than use their veto, allowing the resolution to move forward while expressing skepticism about Washington’s approach.
