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Proposals for an multinational stabilisation force authorized by the United Nations to disarm Hamas in the Gaza Strip are encountering increasing resistance after the United Arab Emirates stated it would not join due to the absence of a well-defined legal structure.

Growing Global Concerns

Israeli authorities have already excluded Turkish participation, and Jordan's King Abdullah has stated that Jordanian troops will not join. Azerbaijan, once mooted as a potential contributor, was absent from a planning session in Istanbul and said it would not contribute unless a full ceasefire was established.

The UAE lacks clarity on a clear framework for the stability mission and under such circumstances will not participate, but backs all diplomatic efforts towards peace – and stay at the vanguard of relief efforts.

Arab Skepticism and Legal Issues

The Emirati announcement, delivered by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in Abu Dhabi, reflects regional reservations about the provisions of a US-drafted resolution previously distributed to delegates at the UN in NYC. The draft places an onus on a American-led security mission to be the primary means of imposing order in the territory after Israeli forces have left the region.

Regional governments would prefer expanded duties to be assigned to a separate Palestinian civilian police force. International law would also prohibit foreign troops from deploying into occupied Palestine unless there was explicit Palestinian consent; without it, the force could be viewed as coercive under international statutes, and arguably reinforcing an illegal presence.

Palestinian Viewpoints and Calls for Definition

Jamal Nusseibeh of the ceasefire proposal said: “It is critical that the mission be sent not to reinforce the illegal Israeli occupation, but to enforce international law and end it. The mission will work as long as it enters the entire disputed land, including the occupied territories, at the invitation of Palestine, and has a defined objective to end the presence within the context of a sovereign Palestinian state.”

The draft contains no mention to the occupied territories in the American proposal, or to a Palestinian state, or a peaceful resolution, a prospect that Israeli leadership rejects.

Ongoing Discussions and Potential Dangers

Detailed negotiations on the stabilisation force mandate, including its leadership structure, began officially on last week in New York, and look likely to be protracted – risking the emergence of a power gap in Gaza that may empower militant factions.

The US is proposing that it lead the force although it will not have many personnel involved on the ground. It has previously effectively taken control of the delivery of relief supplies into the territory from a new civil military coordination centre based in the neighboring country.

Force Mandate and Administrative Function

The proposed US resolution outlines the aim of the security mission as “together with the recently prepared and vetted law enforcement to help secure frontier zones, stabilise the security environment in the region by guaranteeing the process of disarming the Gaza Strip including the destruction and prevention of rebuilding the military terror and offensive infrastructure as well as the permanent removal of weapons from militant factions”.

The mission, answerable to a “peace council” chaired by Donald Trump, and not to the United Nations, would be required to use “all necessary measures” to achieve its goals.

Arab states including Qatar are also concerned that this authority is overly broad, and if Hamas is to disarm, the group will only do so to local counterparts, probably in the civilian police force, at a moment that, from the Hamas viewpoint, marks the end of Israeli presence.

They also fear the proposed authority spills into giving the mission a governance function in the territory, a responsibility that was to be set aside for a local technocratic committee working in cooperation with a restructured local government.

Humanitarian Considerations and Financial Questions

This “interim authority” in Gaza would remain until “the local government has adequately completed its reform program, the approval of which shall be approved to the board of peace”, the proposal states. It also “emphasizes the significance” of full relief in the territory, including through the United Nations, the ICRC, and the humanitarian organizations.

Nonetheless, it opens the door the removal of “any group determined to have misused such aid”. The wording leaves open the council excluding the UN relief agency, the body that the global judicial body has ruled is the lawful distributor of assistance.

International Political Initiatives

French officials and Saudi Arabia are currently advocating for a reference to a sovereign Palestine to be added in the document. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the White House on the specified date, and Manal Radwan has said that a reference to a independent Palestine is a requirement.

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

Neither the UN nor the 15 strong security council are given a oversight role over the mission, monitoring the implementation of the proposal, a point largely ignored by the draft text. Nothing is outlined about the financing of this stabilisation mission, which, as per the US officials, should be largely covered by Gulf states, with the Kingdom taking the lead.

Israeli Requests and Regional Developments

Israeli authorities is requesting formal assurances from the United States that it be allowed to emulate the pattern of Lebanon and reserve the authority to re-enter the territory if it considers disarmament is not occurring at a scale or pace it requires.

The request was presented to Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in Jerusalem on this week to review developments on the truce and Witkoff was scheduled to arrive subsequently the same day.

Only the remains of a small number of the initial 251 captives are still not recovered.

Separately, Israeli officials has been proposing that the territory could still be split in two parts with rebuilding efforts beginning in the Israeli-controlled areas of the strip. Western diplomats maintain that this is not part of the former US administration's proposal.