The UN Security Council has approved a resolution issued by the United States that supports President Donald Trump’s 20-point Gaza plan.
The plan includes the construction of an International Stabilization Force (ISF), to which the US claims multiple unnamed countries have offered to contribute.
The resolution was supported by 13 countries, including the United Kingdom, France, and Somalia, with none voting against it. Russia and China abstained.
According to a representative for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, adopting it was an “important step in the consolidation of the ceasefire.” Hamas has rejected the resolution, claiming that it fails to address Palestinian rights and needs.
After the resolution was passed, the Palestinian armed group stated on Telegram that the measure “imposes an international guardianship mechanism on the Gaza Strip, which our people and their factions reject.”
“Assigning the international force with tasks and roles inside the Gaza Strip, including disarming the resistance, strips it of its neutrality and turns it into a party to the conflict in favor of the occupation,” it added.
Under the resolution, the ISF will collaborate with Israel and Egypt, as well as a newly trained and vetted Palestinian police force, to safeguard border areas and assure the permanent disarmament of non-state armed groups, including Hamas.
Until now, Hamas has controlled the local police force.
The US ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, informed the council that the ISF would be “tasked with securing the area, supporting the demilitarization of Gaza, dismantling the terrorist infrastructure, removing weapons, and ensuring the safety of Palestinian civilians.”
The Security Council also approved the formation of a transitional governing body known as the Board of Peace (BoP), which would oversee the governance of a Palestinian technocratic, apolitical committee as well as Gaza rebuilding and humanitarian aid delivery.
According to the resolution, funding for Gaza reconstruction after two years of war will come from a World Bank-backed trust fund.
Under the resolution, both the ISF and the BoP would collaborate with a Palestinian committee and police force.
Trump called the Security Council vote “historic” and noted it was a way of “acknowledging and endorsing” the BoP, with its final membership to be announced soon. He is expected to chair the board.
“This will go down as one of the biggest approvals in the history of the United Nations, will lead to further peace all over the world, and is a moment of true historic proportion!” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Unlike previous drafts, the resolution mentions a viable route to Palestinian self-determination and statehood. It is language that some council members advocated for.
Israel firmly opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state, posing a huge barrier to future independence. Key Arab states had urged the resolution’s drafters to include Palestinian self-determination in the language.
The UN secretary general’s spokesperson emphasized that the resolution needs to “translate… into concrete and urgently needed steps on the ground” and lead to “a political process for the achievement of the two-state solution.”
The United States, the Palestinian Authority, and a number of Arab and Muslim-majority countries, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, have all called for the resolution’s rapid adoption.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) stated in a statement that the resolution’s conditions must be implemented “urgently and immediately.”
Russia and China did not use their vetoes but instead abstained, allowing the resolution to pass, thanks in great part to the Palestinian Authority and eight other Arab and Muslim nations.
Both Moscow and Beijing criticized the resolution. They claimed there was insufficient clarity regarding the makeup of the major mechanisms, that the UN was not guaranteed to participate, and that there was no clear commitment to the two-state solution.
The first element of the plan, a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and the release of hostages and detainees, went into effect on October 10. Waltz referred to it as a “fragile first step.”
Trump’s peace offer effectively halted the bloodshed between Israel and Hamas that had erupted since Hamas-led militants assaulted Israel on October 7, 2023.
That attack claimed the lives of over 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 more.
According to the Hamas-run health ministry, Israel’s military activity in Gaza has killed over 69,483 Palestinians since then.
