 "UN Security Council to hold closed-door meeting to discuss India-Pakistan row over Pahalgam attack. File Image/Reuters")
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has approved a US-backed draft resolution to bring about peace in Gaza and set up an international stabilisation force for the region. The move comes as a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, also proposed by Washington, stays fragile.
The council voted 13 to 0 in favour of the resolution, with abstentions from China and Russia. The text of the resolution states that member states can participate in the Trump-led Board of Peace, envisioned as a transitional authority that would oversee the reconstruction and economic recovery of Gaza. It also authorises the international stabilisation force, which would ensure a process of demilitarising Gaza, including by decommissioning weapons and destroying military infrastructure.
The resolution is an extension of US President Donald Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan that brought a ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave last month, followed by the release of Israeli hostages.
Mike Waltz, the US ambassador to the UN, said the resolution, which includes Trump’s 20-point plan as an annexe, “charts a possible pathway for Palestinian self-determination … where rockets will give way to olive branches and there is a chance to agree on a political horizon.”
What’s in the resolution?
The resolution has proven controversial in Israel because it references a future possibility of statehood for the Palestinians.
The resolution’s text says that “conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood” once the Palestinian Authority has carried out a reform program and Gaza’s redevelopment has advanced.
“The United States will establish a dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians to agree on a political horizon for peaceful and prosperous coexistence,” it says.
Hamas rejects international forces in Gaza
Meanwhile, Hamas has rejected the proposal of authorising an International Stabilisation Force in Gaza, asserting that it fails to meet Palestinians’ rights and demands and favours Israel.
“The resolution imposes an international guardianship mechanism on the Gaza Strip, which our people and their factions reject,” the Palestinian terror group said on Telegram.
Quick Reads
View AllIt added, “Assigning the international force with tasks and roles inside the Gaza Strip, including disarming the resistance, strips it of its neutrality, and turns it into a party to the conflict in favour of the occupation. Any international force, if established, must be deployed only at the borders to separate forces, monitor the ceasefire, and must be fully under UN supervision.”
On the other hand, Trump has hailed the UNSC vote as “historic”. “Congratulations to the World on the incredible Vote of the United Nations Security Council, just moments ago, acknowledging and endorsing the BOARD OF PEACE, which will be chaired by me, and include the most powerful and respected Leaders throughout the World,” he wrote on Truth Social.
With inputs from agencies