President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan was passed by a majority vote at the United Nations on Monday, though world powers were still divided over whether it can convert a fragile ceasefire into the long-term solution that has eluded the Middle East.
Much about the plan remains uncertain, with occasional outbreaks of violence between Israel and Hamas threatening the tenuous diplomacy at every turn and Palestinians inside Gaza suffering hunger and now flooding at the onset of a bitter winter.
The fraught path was made clear even before the delegates took to their desks, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — under pressure from his far-right coalition partners — denouncing the resolution's outlining of a future Palestinian state. Hamas also warned against the U.S. proposal.
The Security Council adopted the plan with 13 votes in favor, zero votes against and two abstentions, Russia and China.
"Today’s resolution represents another significant step towards a stable Gaza that will be able to prosper, and an environment that will allow Israel to live in security," Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said after the vote.
Designed to usher Gaza from rubble-strewn war zone into a new era, the resolution backs establishing a “Board of Peace,” headed by the president himself, to temporarily govern the territory. Alongside that, an International Stabilization Force, known as the ISF, would take over responsibility from the Israel Defense Forces currently occupying parts of the Gaza Strip.
The proposal would be “phase two” of Trump’s 20-point plan first announced in September, “phase one” of which brought a prisoner and hostage exchange, as well as a ceasefire that has largely held despite accusations of violations from both sides.
Israel’s military offensive has killed at least 69,000 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to local health officials. Israel launched it after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist, attack in which 1,200 people were killed and 250 more were kidnapped.
Some Security Council members objected that the U.S. resolution made no reference of Palestinian statehood, according to The Associated Press. The draft now says that after the Palestinian Authority has “faithfully carried out and Gaza redevelopment has advanced, the conditions may be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood,” the AP reported.
The resolution supporting the U.S. plan is backed by Qatar, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and other Arab states, as well as Turkey, Indonesia and Pakistan. Of those, the only ones on the Security Council are the United States and Pakistan, a nonpermanent member, which therefore does not have a veto.
A joint statement from the United States and its backers said the “process offers a pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood” and “provides a viable path towards peace and stability, not only between the Israelis and the Palestinians, but for the entire region.”
The U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, lauded Trump for having “assembled the Arab leaders and got them all to sign on the historic agreement.” On Palestinian statehood, he issued a caveat that “the resolution does not call for the state, but it does say that it lays the groundwork, providing that there are reforms that have been called for for a long time.”
Even so, the open door to Palestinian statehood within the resolution has angered the Israeli far right, whose leading politicians are propping up Netanyahu’s government. Under pressure from them, Netanyahu came out Sunday saying that “our opposition to a Palestinian state in any territory has not changed.”
He said at a meeting: “Gaza will be demobilized and Hamas will be disarmed, the easy way or the hard way. I don’t need reinforcements and tweets and lectures from anyone.”
The Hamas-led Palestinian Resistance Factions called the plan an "attempt to impose another form of occupation on our land and people" and "a violation of our national sovereignty and a continuation of our people's suffering."
The delegation from Moscow had put forth its own proposal, which includes stronger language supporting Palestinian statehood.
On a call Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, "emphasized the importance of achieving a lasting peace based on universally recognized international legal base," according to a Russian readout of the conversation.
