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Plans for an multinational stabilisation force mandated by the United Nations to disarm Hamas in Gaza are encountering increasing opposition after the United Arab Emirates announced it would not join due to the lack of a clear legal framework.

Growing Global Reservations

Israeli authorities have previously excluded Turkey participation, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has declared that his country's troops will not join. Azerbaijan, once mooted as a potential participant, was absent from a planning session in Istanbul and indicated it would not take part unless a full truce was established.

Emirati officials lacks clarity on a defined structure for the stabilisation mission and under such circumstances declines involvement, but backs all diplomatic initiatives towards resolution – and stay at the vanguard of relief efforts.

Regional Skepticism and Legal Concerns

The UAE's announcement, made by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in Abu Dhabi, reflects regional doubts about the terms of a US-drafted document already distributed to diplomats at the UN in New York. The draft places an onus on a US-directed stabilisation force to be the principal means of ensuring security in Gaza after Israel have withdrawn from the territory.

Arab states would prefer greater responsibilities to be given to a distinct Palestinian law enforcement agency. International law would also forbid external forces from entering contested Palestine unless there was explicit local approval; without it, the force could be seen as imposed under UN law, and potentially reinforcing an illegal Israeli occupation.

Palestinian Viewpoints and Calls for Clarity

Jamal Nusseibeh of the ceasefire proposal commented: “It is essential that the mission be deployed not to reinforce the unlawful 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 the Palestinian authorities, and has a defined objective to end the presence within the framework of a sovereign Palestinian state.”

The draft contains no reference to the occupied territories in the US draft resolution, or to a Palestinian state, or a peaceful resolution, a outcome that Israeli leadership rejects.

Continuing Negotiations and Potential Dangers

In-depth negotiations on the mission mandate, including its command and control, started formally on last week in the UN headquarters, and appear to be protracted – risking the emergence of a power gap in Gaza that may strengthen militant factions.

The United States is proposing that it command the mission although it will not have a large number of personnel involved on the ground. It has previously effectively assumed command of the delivery of relief supplies into the territory from a recently established logistical hub based in Israel.

Mission Objectives and Administrative Function

The proposed US resolution defines the aim of the security mission as “along with the recently prepared and screened law enforcement to help secure frontier zones, secure the security environment in Gaza by guaranteeing the procedure of demilitarising the Gaza Strip including the destruction and prevention of rebuilding the militant and hostile facilities as well as the lasting removal of arms from militant factions”.

The force, answerable to a “peace council” chaired by the former US president, and not to the UN, would be required to use “all necessary measures” to fulfill its objectives.

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

They also fear the proposed authority spills into granting the stabilisation force a governance role in the territory, a task that was to be set aside for a local technocratic committee working in conjunction with a restructured local government.

Humanitarian Aspects and Funding Issues

This “transitional governance administration” in the strip would stay until “the Palestinian Authority has satisfactorily completed its reform program, the satisfaction of which shall be acceptable to the board of peace”, the proposal says. It also “underscores the importance” of unhindered humanitarian aid in Gaza, including through the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the humanitarian organizations.

Nonetheless, it opens the door the exclusion of “any group determined to have misused such aid”. The phrase leaves open the council excluding Unrwa, the body that the international court of justice has said is the legal distributor of aid.

Global Political Initiatives

French officials and Saudi Arabia are currently pressing for a mention to a sovereign Palestine to be added in the resolution. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the US presidential residence on the specified date, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has stated that a reference to a independent Palestine is a requirement.

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 strong security council are given a oversight function over the stabilisation force, supervising the execution of the proposal, a point mostly overlooked by the proposed document. No details is specified about the funding of this stabilisation mission, which, as per the Americans, should be largely covered by Gulf states, with the Kingdom taking the lead.

Israel's Requests and Local Situations

Israel is requesting formal assurances from the United States that it be allowed to emulate the model of Lebanon and reserve the authority to return to Gaza if it believes disarmament is not taking place at a level or speed it demands.

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

Just the bodies of four of the original 251 captives remain not recovered.

Separately, Israeli officials has been suggesting that the territory could yet be split in two with rebuilding efforts beginning in the Israel occupied parts of the strip. International officials insist that this is no part of the former US administration's proposal.