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Plans for an multinational stabilisation force authorized by the UN to demilitarize Hamas in the Gaza Strip are encountering increasing resistance after the UAE stated it will not join due to the absence of a well-defined legal structure.

Growing International Reservations

Israeli authorities have previously ruled out Turkish participation, and Jordan's King Abdullah has stated that his country's forces will not join. Azerbaijan, previously mooted as a possible participant, was absent from a planning meeting in Istanbul and said it would not take part unless a complete ceasefire was in place.

Emirati officials does not yet see a defined structure for the stabilisation force and in this situation declines involvement, but backs all diplomatic initiatives towards resolution – and stay at the vanguard of relief efforts.

Regional Doubts and Legal Issues

The UAE's announcement, made by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in Abu Dhabi, reflects regional doubts about the terms of a US-drafted resolution previously distributed to diplomats at the UN in New York. The draft places an onus on a US-directed security mission to be the primary means of ensuring order in Gaza after Israel have withdrawn from the region.

Arab states would like greater duties to be assigned to a separate Palestinian law enforcement agency. Global jurisprudence would also prohibit external forces from entering occupied Palestinian territories unless there was explicit Palestinian consent; otherwise, the mission could be seen as coercive under UN law, and arguably reinforcing an unlawful presence.

Palestinian Viewpoints and Appeals for Clarity

Jamal Nusseibeh of the Palestinian armistice plan said: “It is essential that the force be sent not to reinforce the unlawful presence, but to uphold international law and end it. The force will work as long as it enters the whole occupied territory, including the occupied territories, 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 mention to the West Bank in the American proposal, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a two-state solution, a prospect that Israeli leadership rejects.

Continuing Discussions and Possible Dangers

In-depth talks on the stabilisation force mandate, including its leadership structure, started officially on last week in New York, and appear to be lengthy – potentially creating the development of a power gap in Gaza that may strengthen Hamas.

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

Force Mandate and Governance Function

The draft US resolution defines the purpose of the security mission as “along with the newly trained and screened police force to help secure border areas, secure the security environment in the region by guaranteeing the process of demilitarising the Gaza Strip including the elimination and blocking of reconstructing the military terror and offensive infrastructure as well as the permanent removal of arms from non-state armed groups”.

The force, answerable to a “peace council” led by the former US president, and not to the United Nations, would be required to use “all necessary measures” to fulfill its goals.

Regional powers including Qatar are also concerned that this mandate is too expansive, and if Hamas is to lay down arms, the group will only do so to local counterparts, likely in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the Hamas perspective, signifies the conclusion of Israeli presence.

They also worry the draft mandate spills into giving the mission a administrative role in Gaza, 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 Questions

This “transitional governance administration” in Gaza would stay until “the Palestinian Authority has adequately completed its reform program, the satisfaction of which shall be approved to the BoP”, the proposal says. It also “underscores the importance” of unhindered humanitarian aid in Gaza, including through the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the humanitarian organizations.

However, it allows for the exclusion of “any organisation found to have misused such assistance”. The phrase leaves open the council barring the UN relief agency, the body that the international court of justice has ruled is the legal distributor of assistance.

International Diplomatic Efforts

France and Saudi representatives are currently pressing for a reference to a sovereign Palestine to be added in the document. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the White House on the specified date, and Manal Radwan has said that a mention to a independent Palestine is a requirement.

The Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas, held talks with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on Monday to discuss the authority's function.

Neither the UN nor the 15 strong security council are assigned a oversight role over the stabilisation force, monitoring the execution of the resolution, a point mostly ignored by the draft text. Nothing is outlined about the financing of this security operation, which, as per the US officials, should be largely borne by regional nations, with the Kingdom taking the lead.

Israel's Requests and Regional Situations

Israeli authorities is seeking written guarantees from the United States that it be allowed to follow the model of Lebanon and reserve the right to return to Gaza if it believes demilitarization is not occurring at a level or pace it demands.

The Israeli proposal was put to Jared Kushner, the ex-president's relative, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in the Israeli capital on Monday to review progress on the truce and Witkoff was due to appear subsequently the that day.

Only the remains of a small number of the original 251 captives are still unreturned.

Independently, Israel has been suggesting that the territory could yet be divided in two with rebuilding efforts beginning in the Israel occupied areas of the region. Western diplomats insist that this is not part of the Trump plan.