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Proposals for an multinational stabilisation force mandated by the United Nations to disarm Hamas in the Gaza Strip are facing increasing opposition after the UAE announced it would not take part due to the absence of a well-defined legal structure.

Growing Global Concerns

Israeli authorities have previously excluded Turkish participation, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has stated that Jordanian troops will not join. Azerbaijan, once considered as a possible participant, did not attend a preparatory meeting in Turkey and indicated it would not contribute unless a full truce was established.

Emirati officials lacks clarity on a defined structure for the stability force and in this situation will not participate, but will support all political initiatives towards peace – and remain at the forefront of humanitarian aid.

Regional Skepticism and Juridical Issues

The Emirati decision, delivered by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in the UAE capital, reflects regional reservations about the provisions of a US-drafted resolution previously circulated to delegates at the UN in New York. The draft assigns responsibility on a US-directed stabilisation force to be the primary means of imposing order in Gaza after Israeli forces have left the territory.

Regional governments would like greater duties to be assigned to a distinct Palestinian civilian police force. International law would also forbid foreign troops from entering contested Palestine unless there was explicit local approval; without it, the force could be seen as coercive under UN law, and potentially stabilising an illegal Israeli occupation.

Local Viewpoints and Appeals for Definition

Jamal Nusseibeh of the ceasefire proposal said: “It is critical that the force be sent not to stabilise the illegal Israeli occupation, but to uphold global standards and end it. The force will work as long as it operates in the entire occupied territory, including the occupied territories, at the request of the Palestinian authorities, and has a clear goal to end the occupation within the context of a independent state of Palestine.”

The draft contains no reference to the occupied territories in the American proposal, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a peaceful resolution, a outcome that Israeli leadership rejects.

Ongoing Discussions and Potential Risks

Detailed talks on the stabilisation force authority, including its command and control, started formally on last week in the UN headquarters, and look likely to be lengthy – potentially creating the emergence of a power gap in the strip that may empower militant factions.

The United States is suggesting that it lead the force although it will not have a large number of troops involved on the ground. It has already in effect assumed command of the distribution of humanitarian aid into the territory from a recently established logistical hub based in Israel.

Mission Objectives and Governance Role

The draft American document outlines the purpose of the stabilisation force as “along with the recently prepared and screened police force to assist in protecting frontier zones, stabilise the security environment in the region by ensuring the procedure of disarming the territory including the elimination and blocking of reconstructing the militant and hostile facilities as well as the lasting decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups”.

The force, answerable to a “peace council” led by Donald Trump, and not to the UN, would be required to use “any required actions” to fulfill its goals.

Arab states including Qatar are also worried that this mandate is too expansive, and if Hamas is to disarm, the faction will only do so to local counterparts, likely in the civilian police force, at a time that, from the Hamas perspective, marks the conclusion of occupation.

They also fear the proposed authority spills into giving the stabilisation force a governance function in Gaza, a task that was to be set aside for a Palestinian technocratic committee working in cooperation with a restructured local government.

Aid Aspects and Funding Issues

This “transitional governance administration” in the strip would stay until “the Palestinian Authority has satisfactorily finished its reform program, the satisfaction of which shall be acceptable to the board of peace”, the proposal says. It also “emphasizes the significance” of full humanitarian aid in Gaza, including through the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Red Crescent.

Nonetheless, it opens the door the exclusion of “any group found to have improperly used such assistance”. The wording leaves open the council excluding Unrwa, the body that the global judicial body has ruled is the legal provider of assistance.

International Diplomatic Initiatives

French officials and Saudi Arabia are already advocating for a reference to a Palestinian state to be added in the resolution. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the US presidential residence on the specified date, and Manal Radwan has stated that a reference to a Palestinian state is a requirement.

The Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas, met the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris on Monday to review the authority's function.

Not the UN nor the 15 strong security council are assigned a oversight function over the stabilisation force, supervising the implementation of the resolution, a aspect largely overlooked by the draft text. No details is specified about the funding of this security operation, which, as per the Americans, should be mostly borne by Gulf states, with Saudi Arabia assuming primary responsibility.

Israeli Requests and Regional Situations

Israel is seeking formal assurances from the United States that it be permitted to follow the model of Lebanon and retain the authority to return to Gaza if it believes disarmament is not taking place at a scale or speed it requires.

The Israeli proposal was put to Jared Kushner, the ex-president's son-in-law, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in the Israeli capital on Monday to discuss developments on the truce and Witkoff was due to appear later the that day.

Only the remains of four of the original 251 captives are still not recovered.

Independently, Israeli officials has been proposing that the Gaza Strip could still be split in two parts with reconstruction work beginning in the Israeli-controlled areas of the region. Western diplomats maintain that this is not part of the Trump plan.