The United Nations Security Council has endorsed a sweeping American proposal for Gaza, handing President Donald Trump a significant diplomatic win and setting the stage for an international force to take shape in the territory. The vote — 13 in favour, none against, with Russia and China abstaining — gives rare momentum to a plan that blends security intervention, political restructuring and a tentative pathway toward Palestinian self-determination.
At the core of the resolution is the creation of an International Stabilisation Force, a multinational contingent that Washington says several nations are prepared to join. The force would work alongside Israel, Egypt and a newly vetted Palestinian police unit to secure border zones and dismantle non-state armed groups. For the first time, policing in Gaza would operate outside Hamas’s authority — a shift that has already deepened political fault lines.
Hamas rejected the plan outright, calling it an attempt to impose “international guardianship” over Gaza and warning that any foreign force tasked with disarmament cannot be neutral. The group said the measure undermines Palestinian rights and hands strategic advantage to Israel.
Another pillar of the US blueprint is a transitional body known as the Board of Peace, which would supervise a technocratic Palestinian committee and guide reconstruction and governance during the post-war period. Funding for rebuilding Gaza would flow through a World Bank-backed trust, an effort to impose financial discipline after two devastating years of conflict.
Despite abstaining, Moscow and Beijing criticised the resolution for lacking clarity on how the stabilisation force and governance board will operate, and for failing to embed a more explicit commitment to a two-state outcome. Still, they allowed the measure to advance after appeals from the Palestinian Authority and key Arab governments, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
Trump celebrated the vote as a “historic” affirmation of his plan, signalling he expects to chair the Board of Peace once its membership is finalised. His administration argues that the resolution finally places Gaza on a path to stability and long-term political reform, though its durability remains uncertain.
The plan’s first step — a fragile ceasefire that began on 10 October — paused fighting that had raged since Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel. That assault killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. Since then, Gaza’s toll has climbed steeply, with tens of thousands of Palestinians killed in Israeli operations, according to local authorities.
