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Plans for an international stabilisation force authorized by the United Nations to demilitarize Hamas in the Gaza Strip are encountering growing opposition after the United Arab Emirates announced it would not take part due to the absence of a well-defined legal structure.

Increasing International Concerns

Israeli authorities have already excluded Turkish participation, and Jordan's King Abdullah has declared that his country's troops will not join. The Azerbaijani government, previously mooted as a possible contributor, was absent from a planning session in Turkey and indicated it would not take part unless a complete truce was established.

Emirati officials lacks clarity on a defined structure for the stabilisation mission and under such circumstances declines involvement, but will support all diplomatic efforts towards resolution – and remain at the forefront of relief efforts.

Regional Doubts and Legal Concerns

The Emirati announcement, delivered by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in Abu Dhabi, reflects Arab doubts about the terms of a American-proposed resolution previously distributed to delegates at the UN in NYC. The proposal assigns responsibility on a American-led stabilisation force to be the primary means of ensuring order in the territory after Israel have left the region.

Regional governments would prefer greater duties to be given to a distinct local civilian police force. International law would also prohibit foreign troops from deploying into occupied Palestinian territories unless there was clear Palestinian consent; otherwise, the mission could be seen as coercive under UN law, and potentially stabilising an illegal Israeli occupation.

Local Viewpoints and Calls for Clarity

Jamal Nusseibeh of the Palestinian armistice plan commented: “It is essential that the force be deployed not to reinforce the illegal presence, but to uphold global standards and end it. The force will work as long as it operates in the whole occupied territory, including the occupied territories, at the request of the Palestinian authorities, and has a defined objective to conclude the presence within the framework of a sovereign state of Palestine.”

The draft contains no mention to the occupied territories in the American proposal, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a two-state solution, a prospect that Israel rejects.

Continuing Discussions and Potential Dangers

Detailed talks on the stabilisation force authority, including its command and control, started formally on last week in New York, and look likely to be protracted – potentially creating the development of a power gap in Gaza that may empower Hamas.

The US is suggesting that it lead the mission although it will not have many troops involved on the terrain. It has already in effect assumed command of the delivery of relief supplies into Gaza from a new logistical hub based in the neighboring country.

Mission Mandate and Administrative Function

The proposed American document defines the aim of the stabilisation force as “along with the newly trained and vetted police force to help secure border areas, secure the safety situation in the region by guaranteeing the process of disarming the territory including the elimination and prevention of reconstructing the military terror and hostile facilities as well as the permanent removal of weapons from non-state armed groups”.

The force, answerable to a “board of peace” led by Donald Trump, and not to the UN, would be mandated to use “all necessary measures” to achieve its goals.

Regional powers including Qatar are also concerned that this authority is too expansive, and if Hamas is to disarm, the faction will solely do so to fellow Palestinians, probably in the civilian police force, at a time that, from the militant viewpoint, signifies the end of Israeli presence.

They also worry the proposed authority spills into giving the mission a governance role in the territory, a task that was to be reserved for a local technocratic committee working in conjunction with a reformed local government.

Humanitarian Aspects and Funding Questions

This “interim authority” in Gaza would stay until “the Palestinian Authority has satisfactorily completed its restructuring plan, the satisfaction of which shall be acceptable to the board of peace”, the draft states. It also “emphasizes the significance” of unhindered relief in Gaza, including through the UN, the ICRC, and the Red Crescent.

Nonetheless, it allows for the exclusion of “any group found to have misused such assistance”. The phrase permits the council barring Unrwa, the organization that the international court of justice has ruled is the legal distributor of aid.

International Diplomatic Efforts

French officials and Saudi Arabia are currently advocating for a mention to a sovereign Palestine to be included in the resolution. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the White House on the specified date, and Manal Radwan has said that a reference to a Palestinian state is a prerequisite.

The PA chair, Mahmoud Abbas, held talks with the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris on this week to review the PA role.

Neither the United Nations nor the 15-member UNSC are given a supervisory function over the stabilisation force, monitoring the implementation of the resolution, a point largely overlooked by the proposed document. Nothing is specified about the financing of this stabilisation mission, which, as per the US officials, should be mostly borne by Gulf states, with Saudi Arabia taking the lead.

Israel's Demands and Local Situations

Israeli authorities is requesting formal assurances from the US that it be allowed to follow the pattern of the Lebanese situation and retain the authority to re-enter the territory if it considers demilitarization is not taking place at a level or pace it demands.

The request was presented to Jared Kushner, the ex-president's relative, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in the Israeli capital on this week to discuss progress on the truce and Witkoff was due to arrive later the that day.

Only the bodies of four of the initial 251 captives remain not recovered.

Separately, Israeli officials has been suggesting that the Gaza Strip could yet be split in two parts with rebuilding efforts starting in the Israeli-controlled areas of the region. International officials insist that this is no part of the Trump plan.