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Plans for an international stabilisation force authorized by the UN to demilitarize the militant group in Gaza are encountering increasing resistance after the United Arab Emirates announced it will not take part due to the lack of a well-defined legal structure.

Growing International Concerns

Israeli authorities have previously excluded Turkish involvement, and Jordan's King Abdullah has declared that Jordanian troops will not participate. The Azerbaijani government, once mooted as a potential participant, was absent from a preparatory meeting in Istanbul and said it would not contribute unless a complete ceasefire was established.

The UAE lacks clarity on a defined framework for the stabilisation mission and in this situation will not participate, but will support all diplomatic efforts towards resolution – and remain at the vanguard of humanitarian aid.

Regional Doubts and Legal Concerns

The Emirati decision, made by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in the UAE capital, reflects Arab reservations about the terms of a US-drafted resolution previously distributed to diplomats at the UN in NYC. The draft assigns responsibility on a American-led stabilisation force to be the principal means of imposing order in Gaza after Israel have left the territory.

Regional governments would prefer expanded responsibilities to be assigned to a separate local civilian police force. Global jurisprudence would also prohibit external forces from entering occupied Palestine unless there was clear local approval; otherwise, the force could be viewed as coercive under international statutes, and arguably stabilising an unlawful Israeli occupation.

Palestinian Viewpoints and Calls for Clarity

Jamal Nusseibeh of the ceasefire proposal said: “It is critical that the mission be deployed not to stabilise the unlawful presence, but to uphold international law and terminate it. The mission will work as long as it enters the entire disputed land, including the West Bank, at the request of Palestine, and has a clear goal to conclude the presence within the framework of a independent Palestinian state.”

The draft contains no reference to the occupied territories in the American proposal, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a peaceful resolution, a outcome that Israel opposes.

Continuing Discussions and Potential Risks

In-depth talks on the mission mandate, including its command and control, began formally on last week in New York, and appear to be protracted – risking the emergence of a power gap in the strip that may empower Hamas.

The US is suggesting that it lead the mission although it will not have many personnel deployed on the ground. It has previously in effect taken control of the delivery of relief supplies into the territory from a new civil military coordination centre based in the neighboring country.

Mission Objectives and Administrative Function

The proposed US resolution outlines the aim of the stabilisation force as “along with the newly trained and screened police force to help secure frontier zones, stabilise the safety situation in Gaza by ensuring the process of demilitarising the Gaza Strip including the elimination and blocking of rebuilding the military terror and offensive infrastructure as well as the permanent decommissioning of arms from militant factions”.

The force, answerable to a “board of peace” led by Donald Trump, and not to the UN, would be mandated to use “all necessary measures” to fulfill its goals.

Regional powers including Qatari officials are also worried that this authority is too expansive, and if Hamas is to disarm, the group will only do so to local counterparts, probably in the local law enforcement, at a time that, from the militant perspective, marks the end of Israeli presence.

They also fear the draft mandate spills into granting the stabilisation force a governance role in the territory, a responsibility that was to be set aside for a local technocratic committee working in cooperation with a reformed Palestinian Authority.

Humanitarian Aspects and Financial Questions

This “transitional governance administration” in the strip would remain until “the Palestinian Authority has satisfactorily completed its reform program, the approval of which shall be approved to the board of peace”, the proposal says. It also “underscores the significance” of unhindered humanitarian aid in the territory, including through the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the humanitarian organizations.

However, it allows for the removal of “any organisation found to have improperly used such assistance”. The wording permits the board of peace barring Unrwa, the organization that the international court of justice has said is the legal distributor of assistance.

Global Political Efforts

France and Saudi Arabia are already advocating for a reference to a sovereign Palestine to be added 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 said that a reference to a independent Palestine is a prerequisite.

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

Neither the United Nations nor the 15-member security council are given a oversight function over the stabilisation force, monitoring the implementation of the resolution, a point largely ignored by the proposed document. No details is specified about the funding of this security operation, which, as per the US officials, should be mostly covered by Gulf states, with the Kingdom taking the lead.

Israeli Requests and Local Developments

Israeli authorities is seeking formal assurances from the US that it be allowed to emulate the model of Lebanon and retain the authority to re-enter the territory if it considers disarmament is not occurring at a level or pace it demands.

The request was put to Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s relative, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in Jerusalem on this week to discuss progress on the truce and the envoy was scheduled to appear subsequently the that day.

Only the remains of four of the original 251 captives are still not recovered.

Separately, Israel has been proposing that the Gaza Strip could still be divided in two with reconstruction work beginning in the Israel occupied areas of the strip. International officials insist that this is no part of the former US administration's proposal.