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Plans for an international stabilisation force authorized by the UN to demilitarize Hamas in Gaza are facing growing opposition after the United Arab Emirates stated it would not join due to the absence of a well-defined legal structure.

Increasing International Concerns

Israel have already ruled out Turkey participation, and Jordan's King Abdullah has stated that his country's troops will not participate. Azerbaijan, once mooted as a potential contributor, did not attend a preparatory session in Turkey and said it would not contribute unless a full ceasefire was established.

Emirati officials lacks clarity on a defined framework for the stabilisation mission and in this situation declines involvement, but backs all political efforts towards resolution – and stay at the forefront of humanitarian aid.

Regional Doubts and Legal Issues

The Emirati decision, delivered by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in Abu Dhabi, highlights regional reservations about the provisions of a American-proposed resolution previously circulated to diplomats at the UN in NYC. The draft places an onus on a American-led stabilisation force to be the primary means of ensuring security in Gaza after Israeli forces have withdrawn from the territory.

Arab states would like greater responsibilities to be given to a separate Palestinian civilian police force. International law would also prohibit external forces from deploying into contested Palestine unless there was clear Palestinian consent; without it, the force could be seen as imposed under international statutes, and potentially stabilising an unlawful Israeli occupation.

Palestinian Viewpoints and Appeals for Clarity

Jamal Nusseibeh of the ceasefire proposal said: “It is critical that the mission be deployed not to stabilise the illegal presence, but to uphold global standards and terminate it. The mission will work as long as it operates in the whole disputed land, including the occupied territories, at the request of the Palestinian authorities, and has a defined goal to end the presence within the context of a independent Palestinian state.”

The draft contains no mention to the occupied territories in the American proposal, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a two-state solution, a outcome that Israel opposes.

Ongoing Discussions and Possible Risks

Detailed negotiations on the mission mandate, including its leadership structure, started formally on Thursday in the UN headquarters, and look likely to be lengthy – potentially creating the emergence of a vacuum in Gaza that may empower militant factions.

The US is proposing that it command the force although it will not have a large number of troops deployed on the ground. It has previously effectively taken control 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 Administrative Role

The proposed US resolution outlines the purpose of the stabilisation force as “together with the recently prepared and vetted law enforcement to assist in protecting frontier zones, stabilise the security environment in Gaza by ensuring the procedure of disarming the territory including the elimination and prevention of reconstructing the militant and hostile facilities as well as the lasting removal of arms from militant factions”.

The mission, answerable to a “peace council” led by the former US president, and not to the United Nations, would be mandated to use “any required actions” to fulfill its objectives.

Regional powers including Qatar are also concerned that this mandate is overly broad, and if the group is to lay down arms, the group will solely do so to local counterparts, probably in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the Hamas viewpoint, signifies the end of occupation.

They also worry the draft mandate spills into giving the mission a governance role in the territory, a task that was to be set aside for a local technocratic committee working in conjunction with a restructured local government.

Humanitarian Aspects and Funding Issues

This “transitional governance administration” in the strip would stay until “the local government has satisfactorily finished its restructuring plan, the approval of which shall be approved to the BoP”, the draft states. It also “emphasizes the importance” of full humanitarian aid in Gaza, including through the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the humanitarian organizations.

However, it allows for the removal of “any group determined to have improperly used such aid”. The wording permits the council excluding Unrwa, the organization that the global judicial body has said is the lawful distributor of aid.

Global Diplomatic Initiatives

France and Saudi representatives are currently pressing for a reference to a sovereign Palestine to be included in the resolution. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the White House on the specified date, and Manal Radwan has stated that a reference to a Palestinian state is a prerequisite.

The PA chair, Mahmoud Abbas, met the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on this week to review the authority's function.

Neither the United Nations nor the 15-member UNSC are assigned a oversight function over the stabilisation force, monitoring the implementation of the resolution, a point mostly overlooked by the draft text. Nothing is outlined about the funding of this stabilisation mission, which, as per the Americans, should be mostly covered by Gulf states, with the Kingdom taking the lead.

Israel's Demands and Local Situations

Israel is requesting formal assurances from the United States that it be permitted to follow the pattern of Lebanon and reserve the right to re-enter the territory if it considers demilitarization is not occurring at a level or pace it requires.

The Israeli proposal was put to Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in the Israeli capital on Monday to discuss developments on the ceasefire and the envoy was scheduled to appear subsequently the that day.

Just the bodies of four of the initial hundreds of captives remain unreturned.

Separately, Israeli officials has been suggesting that the territory could yet be divided 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.