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Proposals for an multinational stabilisation force mandated by the UN to disarm Hamas in Gaza are encountering growing opposition after the UAE stated it will not join due to the absence of a well-defined legal structure.

Growing International Concerns

Israel have already excluded Turkish involvement, and Jordan's King Abdullah has declared that his country's forces will not participate. The Azerbaijani government, previously considered as a potential contributor, was absent from a planning session in Turkey and said it would not contribute unless a full truce was established.

Emirati officials does not yet see a clear framework for the stabilisation force and in this situation will not participate, but will support all diplomatic efforts towards resolution – and remain at the vanguard of humanitarian aid.

Regional Skepticism and Juridical Issues

The Emirati announcement, delivered by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in Abu Dhabi, highlights Arab doubts about the provisions of a American-proposed document previously distributed to delegates at the UN in New York. The draft places an onus on a American-led security mission to be the primary means of imposing order in Gaza after Israel have withdrawn from the territory.

Regional governments would like greater responsibilities to be assigned to a separate local law enforcement agency. International law would also forbid external forces from entering occupied Palestine unless there was clear Palestinian consent; otherwise, the mission could be viewed as coercive under UN law, and potentially reinforcing an illegal Israeli occupation.

Palestinian Perspectives and Calls for Clarity

A Palestinian American co-author of the Palestinian armistice plan commented: “It is critical that the mission be deployed not to stabilise 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 West Bank, at the request of the Palestinian authorities, and has a defined goal to end the presence within the framework of a sovereign Palestinian state.”

The draft contains no reference to the West Bank in the US draft resolution, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a peaceful resolution, a prospect that Israeli leadership opposes.

Continuing Negotiations and Possible Risks

Detailed negotiations on the stabilisation force mandate, including its leadership structure, began officially on last week in New York, and appear to be protracted – potentially creating the emergence of a vacuum in the strip that may empower Hamas.

The US is proposing that it command the mission although it will not have a large number of personnel deployed on the terrain. It has previously effectively assumed command of the distribution of humanitarian aid into Gaza from a new civil military coordination centre based in Israel.

Force Mandate and Administrative Function

The draft US resolution outlines the aim of the security mission as “together with the recently prepared and screened law enforcement to assist in protecting frontier zones, stabilise the security environment in Gaza by ensuring the process of disarming the Gaza Strip including the destruction and prevention of reconstructing the militant and hostile facilities as well as the lasting removal of weapons from non-state armed groups”.

The force, reporting to a “board of peace” chaired by the former US president, and not to the UN, would be mandated to use “any required actions” to fulfill its objectives.

Regional powers including Qatar are also concerned that this mandate is too expansive, and if the group is to disarm, the group will only do so to fellow Palestinians, probably in the civilian police force, at a moment that, from the Hamas perspective, marks the conclusion of Israeli presence.

They also fear the draft mandate spills into giving the mission a administrative role in the territory, a task that was to be reserved for a local expert panel working in conjunction with a reformed Palestinian Authority.

Humanitarian Considerations and Funding Questions

This “transitional governance administration” in Gaza would stay until “the Palestinian Authority has adequately finished its reform program, the satisfaction of which shall be approved to the board of peace”, the draft states. It also “emphasizes the importance” of full relief in the territory, including through the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Red Crescent.

However, it opens the door the exclusion of “any organisation found to have misused such aid”. The wording permits the board of peace excluding Unrwa, the organization that the international court of justice has ruled is the lawful distributor of aid.

International Diplomatic Efforts

French officials and Saudi representatives are already advocating for a mention to a Palestinian state to be included in the resolution. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the US presidential residence on the specified date, and Manal Radwan has stated that a mention to a Palestinian state is a prerequisite.

The Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas, met the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on this week to review the authority's function.

Not the UN nor the 15-member UNSC are given a oversight role over the stabilisation force, supervising the implementation of the proposal, a aspect largely ignored by the proposed document. Nothing is specified about the funding of this security operation, which, according to the Americans, should be mostly borne by Gulf states, with Saudi Arabia assuming primary responsibility.

Israeli Demands and Regional Situations

Israel is seeking written guarantees from the United States that it be allowed to follow the model of the Lebanese situation and reserve the authority to re-enter the territory if it believes disarmament is not taking place at a scale or speed it demands.

The request was presented to the former US advisor, the ex-president's son-in-law, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in the Israeli capital on Monday to review progress on the truce and the envoy was due to appear subsequently the that day.

Only the bodies of four of the initial hundreds of captives remain not recovered.

Separately, Israel has been suggesting that the territory could yet be split in two with reconstruction work starting in the Israel occupied parts of the strip. Western diplomats maintain that this is not part of the Trump plan.