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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 stated it will not join due to the absence of a clear legal framework.

Increasing International Reservations

Israel have previously ruled out Turkey participation, and Jordan's King Abdullah has stated that his country's forces will not participate. The Azerbaijani government, once mooted as a potential contributor, did not attend a preparatory session in Istanbul and said it would not take part unless a complete ceasefire was in place.

The UAE does not yet see a clear structure for the stability mission and under such circumstances will not participate, but backs all diplomatic initiatives towards resolution – and remain at the forefront of relief efforts.

Arab Doubts and Juridical Concerns

The UAE's decision, delivered by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in the UAE capital, highlights regional doubts about the provisions of a US-drafted document previously distributed to delegates at the UN in New York. The proposal places an onus on a US-directed stabilisation force to be the primary means of imposing security in Gaza after Israeli forces have withdrawn from the territory.

Regional governments would like expanded duties to be assigned to a separate Palestinian civilian police force. International law would also prohibit foreign troops from deploying into contested Palestine unless there was explicit local approval; without it, the force could be viewed as imposed under UN law, and potentially stabilising an unlawful Israeli occupation.

Local Viewpoints and Appeals for Clarity

A Palestinian American co-author of the ceasefire proposal said: “It is critical that the mission be deployed not to reinforce the unlawful presence, but to enforce global standards and end it. The force will work as long as it operates in the entire occupied territory, including the occupied territories, at the request of the Palestinian authorities, and has a defined goal to conclude the occupation within the framework of a sovereign Palestinian state.”

There is no mention to the occupied territories in the US draft resolution, or to a Palestinian state, or a two-state solution, a prospect that Israel opposes.

Continuing Negotiations and Potential Risks

In-depth talks on the mission authority, including its command and control, began formally on Thursday in New York, and look likely to be protracted – risking the emergence of a vacuum in the strip that may strengthen militant factions.

The US is proposing that it command the mission although it will not have many personnel deployed on the ground. It has already effectively assumed command of the delivery of humanitarian aid into the territory from a recently established civil military coordination centre based in the neighboring country.

Mission Mandate and Governance Function

The proposed American document outlines the purpose of the stabilisation force as “together with the newly trained and screened law enforcement to assist in protecting frontier zones, secure the safety situation in Gaza by guaranteeing the procedure of demilitarising the territory including the elimination and prevention of reconstructing the military terror and hostile facilities as well as the lasting decommissioning of weapons from militant factions”.

The mission, reporting to a “board of peace” led by the former US president, and not to the United Nations, would be mandated to use “any required actions” to achieve its goals.

Regional powers including Qatari officials are also worried that this authority is overly broad, and if Hamas is to lay down arms, the group will only do so to fellow Palestinians, likely in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the militant perspective, signifies the end of occupation.

They also fear the draft mandate spills into giving the stabilisation force a administrative function in the territory, a responsibility that was to be set aside for a local expert panel working in cooperation with a reformed Palestinian Authority.

Humanitarian Aspects and Financial Questions

This “interim authority” in the strip would remain until “the local government has satisfactorily finished its reform program, the approval of which shall be approved to the BoP”, the draft states. It also “underscores the importance” of unhindered relief in the territory, including through the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Red Crescent.

Nonetheless, it opens the door the exclusion of “any organisation found to have misused such aid”. The phrase leaves open the board of peace barring the UN relief agency, the organization that the global judicial body has said is the lawful distributor of aid.

International Diplomatic Efforts

French officials and Saudi Arabia are currently pressing for a mention to a sovereign Palestine to be added in the document. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled 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, met the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on Monday to discuss the authority's function.

Neither the United Nations nor the 15-member UNSC are assigned a supervisory function over the stabilisation force, monitoring the implementation of the resolution, a aspect mostly overlooked by the proposed document. No details is specified about the funding of this stabilisation mission, which, according to the Americans, should be mostly borne by Gulf states, with the Kingdom assuming primary responsibility.

Israeli Demands and Local Developments

Israel is seeking written guarantees from the US that it be permitted to emulate the model of Lebanon and reserve the right to re-enter the territory if it considers disarmament is not taking place at a scale or speed it requires.

The Israeli proposal was put to Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in the Israeli capital on this week to discuss progress on the ceasefire and Witkoff was scheduled to appear later the same day.

Only the bodies of a small number of the initial hundreds of captives remain not recovered.

Independently, Israeli officials has been proposing that the territory could still be split in two parts with reconstruction work starting in the Israeli-controlled parts of the strip. Western diplomats insist that this is no part of the Trump plan.