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Plans for an international security mission mandated by the United Nations to demilitarize Hamas in the Gaza Strip are encountering growing opposition after the UAE announced it will not join due to the absence of a clear legal structure.

Growing Global Reservations

Israeli authorities have already ruled out Turkish involvement, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has declared that Jordanian troops will not participate. The Azerbaijani government, once mooted as a possible contributor, was absent from a preparatory meeting in Turkey and indicated it would not contribute unless a full ceasefire was in place.

Emirati officials does not yet see a clear framework for the stabilisation force and under such circumstances will not participate, but backs all diplomatic efforts towards resolution – and stay at the forefront of humanitarian aid.

Regional Doubts and Juridical Concerns

The Emirati decision, delivered by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in Abu Dhabi, highlights Arab reservations about the provisions of a American-proposed document previously distributed to delegates at the UN in New York. The proposal places an onus on a American-led security mission to be the primary means of imposing order in Gaza after Israel have left the region.

Regional governments would like greater responsibilities to be given to a separate Palestinian law enforcement agency. International law would also forbid external forces from deploying into contested Palestinian territories unless there was clear local approval; otherwise, the force could be seen as imposed under international statutes, and arguably stabilising an unlawful Israeli occupation.

Local Viewpoints and Appeals for Clarity

Jamal Nusseibeh of the Palestinian armistice plan said: “It is essential that the mission be sent not to stabilise the illegal Israeli occupation, but to enforce international law and terminate 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 context of a independent Palestinian state.”

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

Ongoing Negotiations and Possible Risks

Detailed negotiations on the mission authority, including its command and control, started formally on last week in New York, and appear to be protracted – potentially creating the emergence of a power gap in Gaza that may empower Hamas.

The US is proposing 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 delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza from a new logistical hub based in Israel.

Mission Objectives and Governance Role

The draft American document defines the aim of the security mission as “along with the recently prepared and vetted police force to help secure border areas, stabilise the security environment in Gaza by guaranteeing the procedure of demilitarising the Gaza Strip including the destruction and prevention of reconstructing the military terror and offensive infrastructure as well as the lasting decommissioning of arms from militant factions”.

The force, reporting to a “board of peace” chaired by Donald Trump, and not to the United Nations, would be mandated to use “any required actions” to achieve its goals.

Regional powers including Qatar are also concerned that this authority is too expansive, and if the group is to lay down arms, the faction will solely do so to local counterparts, likely in the civilian police force, at a moment that, from the militant perspective, signifies the end of occupation.

They also fear the draft mandate spills into granting the stabilisation force a administrative function in the territory, a responsibility that was to be set aside for a local technocratic committee working in cooperation with a reformed local government.

Aid Aspects and Financial Issues

This “transitional governance administration” in Gaza would remain until “the Palestinian Authority has satisfactorily finished its restructuring plan, the approval of which shall be acceptable to the board of peace”, the proposal states. It also “underscores the importance” of unhindered humanitarian aid in the territory, including through the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the humanitarian organizations.

Nonetheless, it allows for the exclusion of “any group determined to have misused such aid”. The phrase permits the board of peace excluding Unrwa, the body that the global judicial body has said is the lawful distributor of assistance.

International Diplomatic Efforts

France and Saudi Arabia are already advocating for a reference to a sovereign Palestine to be added in the resolution. The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the US presidential residence on the specified date, and Manal Radwan has said that a mention to a independent Palestine is a prerequisite.

The Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas, held talks with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris on Monday to review the PA role.

Neither the UN nor the 15-member UNSC are assigned a supervisory function over the stabilisation force, supervising the implementation of the proposal, a aspect mostly ignored by the draft text. Nothing is specified about the funding of this security operation, which, as per the US officials, should be largely borne by Gulf states, with Saudi Arabia assuming primary responsibility.

Israeli Requests and Local Situations

Israeli authorities is seeking formal assurances from the US that it be allowed to follow the pattern of Lebanon and retain the right to re-enter the territory if it believes disarmament is not occurring at a scale or speed it requires.

The request was put to Jared Kushner, the ex-president's son-in-law, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in the Israeli capital on Monday to discuss progress on the ceasefire and Witkoff was scheduled to appear subsequently the that day.

Only the bodies of a small number of the original hundreds of Israeli hostages remain not recovered.

Independently, Israeli officials has been proposing that the territory could still be split in two with reconstruction work starting in the Israel occupied areas of the strip. Western diplomats maintain that this is no part of the former US administration's proposal.