Gaza would be fully demilitarised through a negotiated process that includes the decommissioning of Hamas weapons and an internationally funded buyback programme for them, the US envoy to the UN said on Wednesday.
Mike Waltz told the UN Security Council that Hamas must not have any role in the future governance of Gaza, "directly or indirectly, in any form".
“All military terror and offensive infrastructure, including tunnels and weapon production facilities, will be destroyed and not rebuilt," he said.
Mr Waltz, who was President Donald Trump's national security adviser, said international and independent monitors will "supervise a process of demilitarisation of Gaza to include placing weapons permanently beyond use through an agreed process of decommissioning and supported by an internationally funded buyback and reintegration programme".
The US, together with 26 countries that have joined Mr Trump’s Board of Peace, and in consultation with the Palestinian National Committee it oversees, will apply pressure on Hamas to disarm, Mr Waltz said.
Mr Trump has said the Board of Peace will handle the disarmament of Hamas, the posting of an international security force, more withdrawals of Israeli troops and Gaza's reconstruction.
The Security Council in November voted in favour of the US-backed plan for Gaza that authorises an international stabilisation force.
Russia and China abstained from the vote, arguing that the US-drafted resolution failed to give the UN a clearly defined role in shaping Gaza’s future.
Mr Waltz said the new force would begin operations under the leadership of US Army Maj Gen Jasper Jeffers and would work to establish “control and stability” to allow Israeli forces to withdraw from the enclave based on “standards, milestones and timeframes linked to demilitarisation”.
These will be agreed on, he added, between the Israeli military, the new force, the guarantors and the US.
Humanitarian aid
On humanitarian aid, Mr Waltz said with the co-operation and assistance of Israel and its Board of Peace partners, more than 55,000 lorries have entered Gaza, "bringing food, shelter and medicine" since the ceasefire began.
More than 1.3 million people received food assistance in December, he said.
But Ramiz Alakbarov, deputy special co-ordinator for the Middle East peace process, told Council members that almost the entire population of Gaza remains in need of humanitarian assistance.
Mr Alakbarov said humanitarian groups still cannot operate at scale in the war-torn enclave.
“Their work is being hindered by insecurity, customs clearance challenges, the limited number of partners authorised by Israeli authorities to bring cargo into Gaza, delays and denials of cargo at crossings, and limited routes available for transporting supplies within Gaza,” he said.
While Jordan continues to provide a key humanitarian corridor, Mr Alakbarov said the volume of aid entering Gaza through so-called back-to-back arrangements represented only a fraction of what was delivered when direct routes were operational.
“Since October 10, only 9 per cent of the 2,720 processed aid consignments have entered Gaza via Jordan,” he said, calling for full use of existing regional corridors to prevent further loss of life.
Israel announced in December plans to suspend the operations of some international NGOs working in Gaza, a move Mr Alakbarov warned has significantly affected humanitarian relief around the enclave.
