UN Security Council approves Trump-backed 'stabilisation force' for Gaza

LAST UPDATE | 10 hrs ago

THE UN SECURITY Council has approved a US-drafted resolution to deploy a stabilisation force to Gaza as part of Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza.

Russia, which had circulated a rival resolution, abstained along with China on the 13-0 vote.

The US and other countries had hoped Moscow would not use its veto power on the UN’s most powerful body to block the resolution’s adoption.

The draft, which has been revised several times as a result of high-stakes negotiations, “endorses” the plan, which allowed for a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas to take hold on 10 October in the Palestinian territory.

The latest version of the text authorises the creation of an ‘International Stabilisation Force’ (ISF) that would work with Israel and Egypt and newly-trained and “vetted Palestinian police units” to help secure border areas and demilitarise Gaza.

The ISF would also “secure border areas, including humanitarian corridors”, “protect civilians” and work on the “permanent decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups”.

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In addition, it would authorise the formation of a so-called “Board of Peace,” a transitional governing body for Gaza – which Trump would theoretically chair – with a mandate running until the end of 2027.

The board would be made up of Palestinians and world experts – including former UK prime minister Tony Blair, whose name has been mooted in previous media reports as being involved in work behind the scenes to establish a post-war plan for Gaza.

The latest version of the draft states that the ISF would eventually cede control of Gaza to a reformed Palestinian Authority (PA), at which point “the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood”.

That eventuality has been firmly rejected by Israel.

“Our opposition to a Palestinian state on any territory has not changed,” Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting yesterday..

Russian objections

Russia had circulated a competing draft, saying the US document does not go far enough towards backing the creation of a Palestinian state.

Moscow’s text asked the Council to express its “unwavering commitment to the vision of the two-state solution.”

It did not authorise a Board of Peace or the deployment of an international force for the time being, instead asking UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to offer “options” on those issues.

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The US intensified its campaign to earn support for its resolution, hitting out at “attempts to sow discord” among Council members.

“Any refusal to back this resolution is a vote either for the continued reign of Hamas terrorists or for the return to war with Israel, condemning the region and its people to perpetual conflict,” the US ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, wrote in The Washington Post.

The US made known that it has the backing of several Arab and Muslim-majority nations, publishing a joint statement of support for the text signed by Qatar, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Jordan and Turkey.

Prior to the vote, several diplomats told news agency AFP that despite Russian criticism and hesitance on the part of other member states, they expected the US draft to be adopted.

“The Russians know that while a lot of Council members will go along with the US plans, they share concerns about the substance of the US text and the way Washington has tried to fast-track it through New York,” Richard Gowan of the International Crisis Group told AFP.

With reporting from © AFP 2025

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