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Plans for an international security mission authorized by the United Nations to disarm Hamas in the Gaza Strip are encountering growing opposition after the UAE announced it would not join due to the lack of a clear legal structure.

Increasing Global Reservations

Israeli authorities have previously excluded Turkey participation, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has declared that Jordanian troops will not participate. Azerbaijan, previously considered as a possible contributor, did not attend a preparatory session in Istanbul and indicated it would not take part unless a full ceasefire was established.

The UAE lacks clarity on a defined framework for the stabilisation mission and under such circumstances declines involvement, but will support all political initiatives towards peace – and remain at the forefront of relief efforts.

Arab Skepticism and Legal Concerns

The UAE's decision, delivered by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in Abu Dhabi, highlights regional doubts about the provisions of a American-proposed resolution previously circulated to diplomats at the UN in New York. The proposal assigns responsibility on a American-led security mission to be the principal means of ensuring security in Gaza after Israel have withdrawn from the region.

Arab states would like expanded responsibilities to be given to a separate local civilian police force. International law would also forbid external forces from entering occupied Palestinian territories unless there was clear Palestinian consent; without it, the force could be seen as coercive under international statutes, and potentially reinforcing an illegal Israeli occupation.

Local Viewpoints and Calls for Definition

A Palestinian American co-author of the Palestinian armistice plan said: “It is essential that the mission be deployed not to reinforce the illegal presence, but to enforce global standards and end it. The force will succeed as long as it enters the whole occupied territory, including the West Bank, at the invitation of Palestine, and has a clear objective to conclude the occupation within the framework of a independent Palestinian state.”

The draft contains no reference to the occupied territories in the US draft resolution, or to a Palestinian state, or a two-state solution, a prospect that Israeli leadership rejects.

Continuing Discussions and Potential Risks

In-depth talks on the mission mandate, including its leadership structure, started formally on last week in New York, and look likely to be lengthy – risking the development of a vacuum in the strip that may empower militant factions.

The United States is suggesting that it lead the force although it will not have many troops deployed on the terrain. It has already effectively taken control of the distribution of relief supplies into the territory from a recently established logistical hub based in Israel.

Force Mandate and Administrative Function

The draft 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, stabilise the safety situation in the region by ensuring the procedure of disarming the territory including the destruction and prevention of reconstructing the militant and hostile facilities as well as the lasting removal of arms from militant factions”.

The force, reporting to a “peace council” led by Donald Trump, and not to the UN, would be mandated to use “any required actions” to fulfill its goals.

Arab states including Qatari officials are also concerned that this authority is overly broad, and if Hamas is to disarm, the faction will only do so to fellow Palestinians, likely in the civilian police force, at a moment that, from the militant perspective, signifies the conclusion of occupation.

They also fear the draft mandate extends to 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 reformed Palestinian Authority.

Aid Considerations and Funding Questions

This “transitional governance administration” in Gaza would remain until “the Palestinian Authority has adequately finished its reform program, the approval of which shall be acceptable to the BoP”, the proposal says. It also “underscores the significance” of unhindered relief in Gaza, including through the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Red Crescent.

Nonetheless, it allows for the exclusion of “any group found to have misused such assistance”. The phrase leaves open the council excluding Unrwa, the body that the global judicial body has ruled is the lawful distributor of assistance.

Global Political Efforts

French officials and Saudi Arabia are currently pressing for a mention to a sovereign Palestine to be included in the document. The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the White House on the specified date, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has stated that a reference to a independent Palestine 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.

Not the UN nor the 15 strong security council are given a oversight role over the mission, supervising the execution of the proposal, a aspect largely overlooked by the proposed document. Nothing is specified about the financing of this security operation, which, as per the US officials, should be largely covered by regional nations, with Saudi Arabia assuming primary responsibility.

Israel's Demands and Regional Situations

Israel is seeking written guarantees from the US that it be permitted to emulate the pattern of the Lebanese situation and retain the right to return to the territory if it considers disarmament is not taking place at a scale or pace it requires.

The Israeli proposal was put to Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in the Israeli capital on Monday to review developments on the truce and Witkoff was scheduled to appear subsequently the that day.

Only the remains of a small number of the initial hundreds of captives are still not recovered.

Independently, Israeli officials has been suggesting that the territory could yet be divided in two parts with rebuilding efforts beginning in the Israeli-controlled areas of the strip. International officials maintain that this is no part of the former US administration's proposal.