The US is seeking a United Nations Security Council resolution on Gaza “aimed at bolstering President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan, including by green-lighting an international security force,” France24 reported on 6 November.
The UN Security Council was expected to begin negotiations on the text.
The goal is to “authorize a two-year mandate for a transitional governance body and international stabilization force,” Reuters noted.
The Trump administration, which led efforts to secure a Gaza ceasefire brokered in Egypt’s Sharm el Sheikh on 8 October, “has said it has regional support from Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates for the text,” Reuters added.
The US has already secured regional support for the ceasefire, but the UN resolution would provide international legitimacy for the subsequent phases in Gaza.
Over the last month, Hamas has released 42 of the 48 hostages held in Gaza.
Twenty of the living hostages were freed on 13 October, and deceased hostages have been freed subsequently over the past few weeks. The body of Tanzanian student Joshua Lolitu Mollel was returned and identified on 6 November.
Another body was transferred to Israel on the evening of 7 November. Meanwhile, Israel has demarcated an area in Gaza called the Yellow Line that marks the boundary of the Israel Defense Forces’ control of around half of the territory.
The US began presenting a draft of the resolution to several members of the Security Council as early as November 3, Axios reported. Parts of the text have been circulating on social media since November 5.
The US mission to the UN noted on 5 November that Ambassador Michael Waltz, the representative of the United States to the United Nations, “convened the elected members (E10) of the UN Security Council, representatives of Algeria, Denmark, Greece, Guyana, Pakistan, Panama, the Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, and Somalia.” In addition, Egypt, Qatar, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Turkey were invited to the meeting to show support for the resolution.
“The resolution welcomes the Board of Peace and authorizes the International Stabilization Force outlined in President Trump’s Twenty-point Gaza peace plan.
This includes continued humanitarian aid and the release of all hostages, paving the way for a safer and more prosperous Gaza,” the US mission to the UN noted. Ambassador Waltz added that bringing the countries together would help “create real peace in the Middle East.”
The resolution aims to solidify support for an International Security Force (ISF) that would be an “enforcement force and not a peacekeeping force,” Axios noted, quoting from the draft.
The force would have a unified command, operate alongside a Board of Peace, which will provide transitional governance for Gaza, and “stabilize the security environment in Gaza by ensuring the process of demilitarizing the Gaza Strip.”
This effort would mean decommissioning weapons used by terrorist groups.
In addition, Israel would “gradually withdraw from additional parts of Gaza, and the Palestinian Authority [would] conduct reforms that would enable it to take over Gaza longer-term,” the report added.
It is not clear which countries will contribute forces, but Axios mentioned “Indonesia, Azerbaijan, Egypt and Turkey” as those that have shown interest.
Le Monde noted that if a UN resolution can be secured, then an international force could be in place in January 2026.
“This time, the US administration agreed to take the lead in drafting this text, which is intended to provide a UN framework for the deployment of the stabilization force envisaged in Trump’s peace plan, as desired by Arab and Muslim countries that, like Indonesia, are likely to send troops to Palestinian territory,” the report said.
UN Secretary General António Guterres has said that “what we believe is that whatever entity that is created in Gaza should have the legitimacy of a mandate from the Security Council.”
Guterres also stated in a speech in Qatar that the transition should include unity between Gaza and the West Bank, as well as a two-state solution.
(FDD)
