The UN Security Council is expected to vote on a draft resolution backing Donald Trump’s peace plan for Gaza.
The text, submitted by the US, would give a mandate for the deployment of an International Stabilization Force (ISF) and to set up transitional governance there.
The US says multiple unnamed countries have offered to contribute to the ISF, though it is unclear whether it would be required to ensure Hamas disarms or function as a peacekeeping force.
Its formation is a central plank of Trump’s 20-point plan which last month brought a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in their two-year war.
The draft also raises the possibility of a Palestinian state – something Israel strongly opposes.
There have been intense negotiations over the draft text of the resolution, with Washington warning that any vote against it could lead to a return to fighting with Israel.
As well as authorising an ISF, which it says would work with Israel and Egypt – Gaza’s southern neighbour – the draft also calls for creation of a newly trained Palestinian police in Gaza. Until now, the police there have operated under the authority of Hamas.
According to reports on the latest draft, part of the ISF’s role would be to work on the “permanent decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups” – including Hamas – as well as protecting civilians and humanitarian aid routes.
This would require Hamas to hand over its weapons – something it is meant to do under Trump’s peace plan.
But in a statement published overnight, Hamas called the draft resolution “dangerous” and an “attempt to subject the Gaza Strip to international authority”.
It said Palestinian factions rejected any clause relating to the disarmament of Gaza or harming “the Palestinian people’s right to resistance”.
The statement also rejected any foreign military presence inside the Gaza Strip, saying it would constitute a violation of Palestinian sovereignty.
The draft goes on to endorse the formation of a Board of Peace, expected to be headed by President Trump, to oversee a body of Palestinian technocrats that will temporarily administer Gaza and take charge of its redevelopment.
Following pressure from key Arab states, the latest text mentions a possible future Palestinian state, though without calling for one as the goal.
Even so, the inclusion of such a reference drew sharp reaction from Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after allies in his governing coalition criticised the draft, including threatening to leave the government if Netanyahu did not push back.
“Regarding a Palestinian state,” he said on Sunday, “our opposition to a Palestinian state in any territory west of the Jordan [River], this opposition is existing, valid, and has not changed one bit.”
Trump’s peace plan in effect suspended the fighting between Israel and Hamas which had raged since Hamas-led gunmen attacked Israel on 7 October 2023. About 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage in that attack.
More than 69,483 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli military action in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
