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Plans for an multinational stabilisation force authorized by the UN to demilitarize Hamas in the Gaza Strip are encountering increasing opposition after the United Arab Emirates announced it would not take part due to the lack of a well-defined legal framework.

Growing Global Reservations

Israeli authorities have already ruled out Turkey participation, and Jordan's King Abdullah has declared that his country's forces will not participate. The Azerbaijani government, once mooted as a potential contributor, was absent from a preparatory meeting in Turkey and said it would not contribute unless a full truce was established.

Emirati officials does not yet see a clear structure for the stability force and in this situation declines involvement, but will support all political initiatives towards resolution – and stay at the vanguard of relief efforts.

Regional Doubts and Legal Concerns

The UAE's decision, made by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in the UAE capital, highlights regional doubts about the terms of a US-drafted resolution already distributed to diplomats at the UN in New York. The proposal assigns responsibility on a American-led stabilisation force to be the principal means of imposing order in Gaza after Israeli forces have withdrawn from the territory.

Regional governments would prefer greater duties to be given to a separate Palestinian civilian police force. Global jurisprudence would also forbid external forces from deploying into occupied Palestinian territories unless there was explicit local approval; without it, the mission could be seen as imposed under international statutes, and arguably reinforcing an unlawful presence.

Palestinian Perspectives and Appeals for Clarity

Jamal Nusseibeh of the Palestinian armistice plan commented: “It is essential that the mission be deployed not to stabilise the unlawful presence, but to uphold global standards and terminate it. The force will succeed as long as it enters the whole disputed land, including the West Bank, at the request of the Palestinian authorities, and has a clear goal to conclude the presence within the context of a independent state of Palestine.”

There is no reference to the occupied territories in the US draft resolution, or to a Palestinian state, or a peaceful resolution, a prospect that Israel opposes.

Continuing Negotiations and Possible Risks

In-depth negotiations on the stabilisation force authority, including its command and control, began formally on last week in the UN headquarters, and look likely to be lengthy – risking the emergence of a vacuum in the strip that may strengthen militant factions.

The US is proposing that it command the force although it will not have a large number of personnel deployed on the terrain. It has previously in effect taken control of the distribution of humanitarian aid into Gaza from a new logistical hub based in Israel.

Mission Objectives and Governance Function

The draft US resolution defines the aim of the stabilisation force as “along with the recently prepared and vetted police force to assist in protecting frontier zones, stabilise the security environment in the region by ensuring the process of disarming the Gaza Strip including the destruction and blocking of reconstructing the military terror and offensive infrastructure as well as the lasting removal of weapons from non-state armed groups”.

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

Regional powers including Qatar are also concerned that this authority is too expansive, and if Hamas is to disarm, the group will solely do so to local counterparts, likely in the civilian police force, at a time that, from the militant perspective, signifies the conclusion of occupation.

They also worry the draft mandate extends to granting the stabilisation force a governance role in Gaza, a task that was to be set aside for a local technocratic committee working in cooperation with a restructured Palestinian Authority.

Aid Considerations and Funding Issues

This “transitional governance administration” in the strip would stay until “the Palestinian Authority has satisfactorily completed its reform program, the approval of which shall be acceptable to the BoP”, the proposal states. It also “emphasizes the significance” of unhindered humanitarian aid in Gaza, including through the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Red Crescent.

Nonetheless, it allows for the removal of “any organisation determined to have improperly used such aid”. The wording leaves open the council barring Unrwa, the organization that the global judicial body has said is the legal distributor of aid.

International Political Efforts

France and Saudi Arabia are already pressing for a mention to a sovereign Palestine to be added in the document. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the White House on the specified date, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has stated that a mention to a Palestinian state is a requirement.

The Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas, met the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris on Monday to discuss the authority's function.

Neither the United Nations nor the 15-member security council are assigned a supervisory role over the mission, supervising the execution of the proposal, a point largely ignored by the draft text. No details is outlined about the funding of this stabilisation mission, which, according to the US officials, should be mostly borne by regional nations, with the Kingdom taking the lead.

Israel's Demands and Regional Developments

Israeli authorities is requesting written guarantees from the United States that it be permitted to follow the model of Lebanon and retain the authority to re-enter Gaza if it considers demilitarization is not occurring at a level or speed it demands.

The request was presented to Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s relative, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in the Israeli capital on this week to discuss developments on the ceasefire and Witkoff was due to appear later the same day.

Just the remains of a small number of the initial hundreds of Israeli hostages are still unreturned.

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