Draft UN resolution would grant US and partners two-year mandate to govern Gaza

Initiative envisions stabilization force taking part in demilitarizing Gaza, which could face pushback from potential contributing countries that aren’t interested in sparring with Hamas

The Trump administration’s draft United Nations Security Council resolution on establishing an international force in Gaza would reportedly give the US and other participating countries a broad two-year mandate to govern Gaza and be in charge of security there.

According to a copy of the draft published by the Axios news site on Monday, the so-called International Stabilization Force will be in charge of securing the Gaza Strip’s borders with Israel and Egypt, ensuring the safety of civilians and humanitarian zones, and training and partnering new Palestinian police officers.

The force’s mandate will apparently include disarming Hamas, with the draft saying that the ISF will “stabilize the security environment in Gaza by ensuring the process of demilitarizing the Gaza Strip, including the destruction and prevention of rebuilding of military, terror, and offensive infrastructure, as well as the permanent decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups.”

This clause could well be subject to debate, as countries that have offered to contribute troops to the ISF are not interested in sparring with Hamas in Gaza, two Arab diplomats reiterated to The Times of Israel last week.

The draft resolution also states that the ISF will perform “additional tasks as may be necessary in support of the Gaza agreement,” and that it will be established and operate “in close consultation and cooperation with Egypt and Israel.”

Additionally, the resolution calls for granting US President Donald Trump’s proposed “Board of Peace” the powers of “a transitional governance administration with international legal personality that will set the framework and coordinate funding for the redevelopment of Gaza pursuant to the Comprehensive Plan, until such time as the Palestinian Authority has satisfactorily completed its reform program.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly proclaimed that the Palestinian Authority cannot play any role in governing postwar Gaza, although the idea has remained popular among Israel’s Western allies.

A US official told Axios that the goal is to deploy the first ISF troops to Gaza by January. Washington is reportedly aiming to negotiate the terms of the resolution within days and hold a vote on it within weeks.

Currently, the next stages of Trump’s 20-point peace plan have been on hold, with Hamas failing to hand all of the hostages’ bodies it continues to hold. The terror group returned the remains of three hostages on Sunday night, leaving eight still in Gaza — six Israelis, one Thai and one Tanzanian.

Since the sides remain in the first stage of the deal, Israel is still in control of approximately 53 percent of the Strip, demarcated by the Yellow Line. In a future stage, once the ISF is deployed, Israeli troops are slated to withdraw further “based on standards, milestones, and timeframes linked to demilitarization that will be agreed upon between the IDF, ISF, the guarantors, and the United States,” according to Trump’s plan.

The proposal envisions Israeli forces gradually withdrawing as the ISF deploys, “until they are withdrawn completely from Gaza, save for a security perimeter presence that will remain until Gaza is properly secure from any resurgent terror threat.”

Hamas officials have pushed back in recent weeks on the idea of fully disarming, with Trump suggesting last month that if the group won’t hand over its weapons, “we will disarm them, and it’ll happen quickly and perhaps violently, but they will disarm.”

Six Muslim countries met with Turkish officials in Istanbul on Monday to discuss the future of Gaza, with diplomats from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Pakistan and Indonesia in attendance.

Israel has pushed back against Turkey playing any major role in Gaza’s postwar governance and rejected the idea that Ankara would supply troops to the ISF.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told reporters following the meeting that “the countries we’ve spoken with say they will decide whether to send troops based on… the ISF’s mandate and authority.”

Fidan said that “first, a general consensus needs to be reached on a draft, then it needs to be approved by the members of the Security Council.”

A report in the Ynet news site last week said that members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee were told during a closed-door briefing that the ISF will be made up of soldiers from Indonesia, Azerbaijan and Pakistan.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is slated to meet with Trump at the  White House on November 18, with the future and reconstruction of Gaza likely to be a major topic of discussion.

A diplomat told The Times of Israel that Washington is hoping to put forward the UN Security Council resolution establishing the ISF before bin Salman’s visit.

Jacob Magid and Agencies contributed to this report.