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Proposals for an international security mission mandated by the United Nations to demilitarize Hamas in Gaza are facing increasing opposition after the UAE announced it will not join due to the lack of a clear legal framework.

Increasing Global Reservations

Israel have already ruled out Turkey participation, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has stated that his country's forces will not participate. Azerbaijan, once considered as a potential participant, did not attend a preparatory session in Turkey and indicated it would not take part unless a full ceasefire was in place.

Emirati officials does not yet see a clear framework for the stability force and in this situation declines involvement, but will support all political efforts towards resolution – and stay at the vanguard of humanitarian aid.

Arab Doubts and Legal Concerns

The Emirati announcement, made by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in Abu Dhabi, reflects Arab reservations about the terms of a US-drafted document previously circulated to diplomats at the UN in New York. The draft places an onus on a US-directed security mission to be the principal means of imposing order in Gaza after Israel have left the territory.

Regional governments would like expanded responsibilities to be given to a separate local law enforcement agency. Global jurisprudence would also forbid external forces from deploying into contested Palestinian territories unless there was explicit Palestinian consent; without it, the force could be seen as coercive under international statutes, and potentially reinforcing an unlawful Israeli occupation.

Palestinian Viewpoints and Appeals for Definition

Jamal Nusseibeh of the ceasefire proposal said: “It is essential that the force be sent not to stabilise the unlawful presence, but to uphold international law and end it. The force will succeed as long as it enters the entire occupied territory, including the occupied territories, at the request of the Palestinian authorities, and has a defined objective to end the occupation within the context of a sovereign state of Palestine.”

The draft contains no reference to the occupied territories in the US draft resolution, or to a Palestinian state, or a two-state solution, a outcome that Israel opposes.

Ongoing Negotiations and Potential Risks

Detailed negotiations on the stabilisation force authority, including its leadership structure, started formally on last week in the UN headquarters, and look likely to be lengthy – risking the development of a vacuum in Gaza that may strengthen Hamas.

The United States is suggesting that it lead the mission although it will not have a large number of personnel involved on the ground. It has previously in effect assumed command of the delivery of relief supplies into Gaza from a recently established logistical hub based in the neighboring country.

Mission Mandate and Administrative Function

The proposed US resolution defines the purpose of the stabilisation force as “together with the newly trained and vetted police force to help secure frontier zones, stabilise the safety situation in Gaza by ensuring the procedure of demilitarising the Gaza Strip including the destruction and blocking of rebuilding the militant and offensive infrastructure as well as the lasting removal of weapons from militant factions”.

The force, reporting to a “peace council” chaired by Donald Trump, and not to the United Nations, would be required to use “any required actions” to achieve its objectives.

Arab states including Qatari officials are also worried that this authority is overly broad, and if the group is to disarm, the faction will only do so to fellow Palestinians, likely in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the militant viewpoint, signifies the conclusion of Israeli presence.

They also worry the proposed authority extends to granting the stabilisation force a governance role in Gaza, a task that was to be set aside for a Palestinian expert panel working in conjunction with a restructured local government.

Aid Aspects and Financial Questions

This “transitional governance administration” in the strip would remain until “the local government has satisfactorily completed its restructuring plan, the satisfaction of which shall be acceptable to the board of peace”, the proposal says. It also “emphasizes the importance” of unhindered relief in Gaza, including through the United Nations, the ICRC, and the humanitarian organizations.

However, it allows for the exclusion of “any group determined to have misused such assistance”. The wording leaves open the board of peace excluding Unrwa, the body that the international court of justice has ruled is the legal provider of aid.

International Diplomatic Efforts

France and Saudi Arabia are already advocating for a mention to a sovereign Palestine to be added in the document. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the US presidential residence on the specified date, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has stated that a mention to a Palestinian state is a requirement.

The Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas, met the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on Monday to discuss the PA role.

Neither the United Nations nor the 15-member UNSC are assigned a oversight function over the stabilisation force, monitoring the execution of the proposal, a aspect largely ignored by the draft text. Nothing is outlined about the financing of this stabilisation mission, which, as per the Americans, should be mostly covered by Gulf states, with Saudi Arabia taking the lead.

Israeli Demands and Regional Situations

Israeli authorities is requesting written guarantees from the US that it be permitted to follow the pattern of Lebanon and retain the right to re-enter the territory if it considers disarmament is not taking place at a level or speed it requires.

The request was presented to Jared Kushner, the ex-president's son-in-law, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in Jerusalem on this week to discuss progress on the truce and Witkoff was due to appear subsequently the same day.

Just the bodies of four of the initial hundreds of captives are still unreturned.

Separately, Israeli officials has been suggesting that the territory could still be split in two with reconstruction work starting in the Israel occupied parts of the strip. International officials maintain that this is not part of the former US administration's proposal.