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Plans for an international stabilisation force authorized by the UN to disarm Hamas in the Gaza Strip are facing growing opposition after the UAE announced it will not take part due to the lack of a clear legal framework.

Growing Global Concerns

Israeli authorities have already excluded Turkey participation, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has stated that his country's forces will not join. Azerbaijan, previously considered as a possible contributor, was absent from a planning meeting in Istanbul and said it would not contribute unless a full ceasefire was in place.

Emirati officials lacks clarity on a clear framework for the stability mission and in this situation will not participate, but will support all political efforts towards peace – and remain at the forefront of humanitarian aid.

Arab Doubts and Legal Issues

The UAE's decision, delivered by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in the UAE capital, highlights regional doubts about the terms of a American-proposed resolution already distributed to diplomats at the UN in NYC. The draft places an onus on a American-led stabilisation force to be the primary means of ensuring order in Gaza after Israeli forces have withdrawn from the region.

Regional governments would prefer expanded responsibilities to be assigned to a separate local law enforcement agency. Global jurisprudence would also prohibit foreign troops from entering occupied Palestinian territories unless there was clear Palestinian consent; otherwise, the force could be seen as coercive under UN law, and potentially stabilising an illegal Israeli occupation.

Palestinian Perspectives and Calls for Clarity

A Palestinian American co-author of the ceasefire proposal said: “It is critical that the mission be sent not to stabilise the unlawful Israeli occupation, but to enforce global standards and terminate it. The force will succeed as long as it operates in the entire occupied territory, including the West Bank, at the invitation 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 mention to the West Bank in the US draft resolution, or to a Palestinian state, or a two-state solution, a prospect that Israeli leadership rejects.

Continuing Negotiations and Potential Dangers

Detailed talks on the mission authority, including its leadership structure, began officially on last week in New York, and look likely to be lengthy – potentially creating the emergence of a vacuum in Gaza that may strengthen militant factions.

The United States is proposing that it command the force although it will not have a large number of troops deployed on the terrain. It has already effectively taken control of the distribution of humanitarian aid into the territory from a new civil military coordination centre based in the neighboring country.

Force Mandate and Administrative Function

The draft US resolution defines the purpose of the security mission as “together with the recently prepared and vetted police force to assist in protecting border areas, stabilise the security environment in Gaza by ensuring the procedure of demilitarising the Gaza Strip including the destruction and prevention of reconstructing the militant and offensive infrastructure as well as the lasting removal of weapons from non-state armed groups”.

The force, 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 objectives.

Regional powers including Qatar are also concerned that this authority is too expansive, and if the group is to lay down arms, the group will solely do so to local counterparts, likely in the civilian police force, at a time that, from the Hamas perspective, marks the conclusion of Israeli presence.

They also fear the draft mandate spills into granting the mission a governance function in Gaza, a responsibility that was to be set aside for a Palestinian expert panel working in cooperation with a restructured Palestinian Authority.

Humanitarian Considerations and Funding Questions

This “interim authority” in the strip would remain until “the local government has satisfactorily completed its restructuring plan, the approval of which shall be approved to the BoP”, the draft says. 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.

Nonetheless, it opens the door the removal of “any organisation determined to have improperly used such aid”. The phrase permits the board of peace excluding the UN relief agency, the body that the international court of justice has said is the legal provider of aid.

International Political Initiatives

France and Saudi representatives are already pressing for a reference to a Palestinian state to be added in the document. The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the US presidential residence on the specified date, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has stated that a mention to a Palestinian state is a requirement.

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

Not the United Nations nor the 15 strong UNSC are assigned a supervisory function over the stabilisation force, monitoring the implementation of the resolution, a aspect mostly overlooked by the draft text. No details is outlined about the financing of this security operation, which, according to the Americans, should be mostly covered by regional nations, with the Kingdom assuming primary responsibility.

Israeli Demands and Local Situations

Israel is seeking formal assurances from the United States that it be permitted to emulate the pattern of the Lebanese situation and reserve the right to re-enter the territory if it believes disarmament is not taking place 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 the Israeli capital on this week to review progress on the truce and Witkoff was scheduled to arrive later the that day.

Only the bodies of a small number of the initial hundreds of captives are still not recovered.

Separately, Israel has been proposing that the Gaza Strip could still be split in two with rebuilding efforts beginning in the Israel occupied areas of the region. Western diplomats insist that this is not part of the former US administration's proposal.