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Plans for an international stabilisation force mandated by the United Nations to demilitarize Hamas in the Gaza Strip are facing growing opposition after the UAE stated it will not join due to the absence of a well-defined legal framework.

Growing International Concerns

Israeli authorities have already ruled out Turkey participation, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has stated that his country's troops will not join. Azerbaijan, once mooted as a possible participant, was absent from a preparatory meeting in Turkey and said it would not contribute unless a full truce was established.

Emirati officials lacks clarity on a defined framework for the stabilisation mission and under such circumstances declines involvement, but backs all diplomatic efforts towards peace – and stay at the forefront of humanitarian aid.

Arab Doubts and Legal Concerns

The Emirati announcement, delivered by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in Abu Dhabi, highlights regional doubts about the terms of a US-drafted document already circulated to delegates at the UN in New York. The draft assigns responsibility on a American-led security mission to be the primary means of imposing order in Gaza after Israel have left the region.

Arab states would like greater duties to be assigned to a distinct local civilian police force. International law would also forbid external forces from deploying into contested Palestine unless there was clear local approval; otherwise, the mission could be viewed as coercive under international statutes, and potentially reinforcing an unlawful Israeli occupation.

Local Viewpoints and Appeals for Clarity

Jamal Nusseibeh of the Palestinian armistice plan commented: “It is critical that the mission be sent not to stabilise the illegal Israeli occupation, but to uphold international law and end it. The force will work as long as it operates in the entire disputed land, including the occupied territories, at the invitation of the Palestinian authorities, and has a clear objective to end the occupation within the context of a sovereign Palestinian state.”

The draft contains no mention to the West Bank in the US draft resolution, or to a Palestinian state, or a peaceful resolution, a prospect that Israeli leadership rejects.

Continuing Discussions and Potential Risks

Detailed negotiations on the mission authority, including its command and control, began officially on Thursday in the UN headquarters, and look likely to be protracted – risking the emergence of a power gap in Gaza that may empower Hamas.

The United States is suggesting that it command the mission although it will not have many personnel deployed on the ground. It has already effectively assumed command of the distribution of relief supplies into the territory from a new logistical hub based in Israel.

Force Objectives and Administrative Function

The draft US resolution defines the purpose of the stabilisation force as “along with the recently prepared and vetted law enforcement to help secure frontier zones, secure the security environment in Gaza by ensuring the process of demilitarising the Gaza Strip including the destruction and prevention of rebuilding the militant and offensive infrastructure as well as the permanent decommissioning of arms from non-state armed groups”.

The mission, reporting 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 goals.

Regional powers including Qatari officials are also concerned that this mandate is too expansive, and if Hamas is to disarm, the faction will solely do so to fellow Palestinians, probably in the local law enforcement, at a time that, from the Hamas viewpoint, signifies the conclusion of Israeli presence.

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

Aid Aspects and Funding Issues

This “interim authority” in Gaza would stay until “the Palestinian Authority has satisfactorily completed its reform program, the approval of which shall be approved to the BoP”, the draft says. It also “underscores the significance” of full humanitarian aid in the territory, including through the UN, the ICRC, and the humanitarian organizations.

However, it allows for the removal of “any organisation found to have misused such aid”. The phrase permits the council excluding Unrwa, the organization that the global judicial body has ruled is the legal distributor of aid.

International Diplomatic Initiatives

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

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

Neither the UN nor the 15 strong security council are assigned a oversight function over the stabilisation force, monitoring the execution of the proposal, a point largely overlooked by the proposed document. Nothing is specified about the funding of this security operation, which, as per the Americans, should be mostly covered by Gulf states, with the Kingdom assuming primary responsibility.

Israel's Requests and Local Developments

Israel is requesting written guarantees from the United States that it be permitted to follow the pattern of Lebanon and reserve the right to return to Gaza if it considers disarmament is not occurring at a level or pace it requires.

The Israeli proposal 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 developments on the truce and the envoy was scheduled to appear subsequently the same day.

Just the remains of a small number of the initial 251 captives are still not recovered.

Separately, Israel has been proposing that the territory could yet be divided in two with rebuilding efforts beginning in the Israeli-controlled parts of the region. International officials insist that this is no part of the Trump plan.