US resolution details powers of proposed Gaza international stabilisation force

Transitional body with two-year mandate would oversee security and demilitarisation

A French member of the UN interim force in southern Lebanon. There are plans to send a peacekeeping force to stabilise Gaza. AFP

The US has circulated a draft resolution to the UN Security Council that would authorise a two-year mandate for a transitional administration in Gaza and an international force to oversee security and demilitarisation.

The US mission to the UN said ambassador Mike Waltz shared the draft with the council’s 10 elected members and regional partners the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar and Turkey.

The three-page text, obtained by The National, “welcomes the establishment of the Board of Peace", described as a transitional governing body with international legal standing that would co-ordinate funding and set the framework for the redevelopment of Gaza.

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The board would operate until the Palestinian Authority completed a reform programme outlined in the administration’s "Comprehensive Plan".

“Under President [Donald] Trump’s bold leadership, the United States will again deliver results at the UN, not endless talk,” said a representative of the US mission.

The resolution also authorises members of the Board of Peace to “enter into such arrangements as may be necessary” to meet the plan’s objectives, including the creation of “operational entities” to oversee the transitional government in Gaza. These entities would supervise and support a technocratic, non-partisan Palestinian committee.

“The implementation of a transitional governance administration, including the supervising and supporting of a Palestinian technocratic, apolitical committee of competent Palestinians from the strip, as championed by the Arab League, which shall be responsible for day-to-day operations of Gaza’s civil service and administration,” it said.

According to the US draft, the new structures would function under the oversight of the Board of Peace and be funded through voluntary donor contributions.

The resolution calls on “the World Bank and other financial institutions to facilitate and provide financial resources to support the reconstruction and development of Gaza as it would provide to its members, including the establishment of a dedicated trust fund for this purpose and governed by donors".

It also authorises the International Stabilisation Force (ISF) in Gaza to “use all necessary measures to carry out its mandate consistent with international law, including international humanitarian law”.

The establishment of an international force was part of the agreement that produced the fragile October 10 ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, ending two years of fighting sparked by the attack on October 7, 2023.

Under the deal, troops from mostly Arab and Muslim nations will be stationed in Gaza to oversee security as Israeli forces withdraw.

According to the draft, the proposed International Stabilisation Force would work in co-ordination with Israel and Egypt, without altering their existing agreements, and alongside a newly trained and vetted Palestinian police service.

The force’s mandate would also include stabilising the “security environment in Gaza by ensuring the process of demilitarising the Gaza Strip, including the destruction and prevention of rebuilding of the military, terror and offensive infrastructure, as well as the permanent decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups”.