As the UN Security Council prepares for a pivotal vote, a US-drafted resolution aimed at governing post-war Gaza faces firm rejection from Palestinian resistance groups, who decry it as a blueprint for continued foreign occupation and an assault on their sovereignty .
The resolution seeks to legitimize key elements of the US peace plan, including an International Stabilisation Force (ISF) and a transitional "Board of Peace" to be chaired by US President Donald Trump . Despite late revisions mentioning a potential pathway to Palestinian statehood, the plan has been criticized for its vague details and for making statehood conditional on reforms, a concept firmly rejected by Israel's leadership .
Hamas has issued a strong statement condemning the draft resolution as "dangerous" and an outright "attempt to subject the Gaza Strip to international authority" . A spokesman for the group stated that the proposed foreign military presence would simply exchange the current Israeli occupation for a "foreign guardianship," a condition Palestinians find unacceptable . The factions uniformly reject any clause that would lead to the disarmament of Gaza, asserting it infringes upon the Palestinian people's inherent right to resist occupation .
The core of the opposition lies in the resolution's demand for the "permanent decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups," including Hamas . For Palestinians, this is not a matter of security but of sovereignty and survival against a militarily superior occupying power. The plan also hands governance and reconstruction oversight to the Trump-chaired Board of Peace, effectively stripping Palestinians of self-rule and placing their future in the hands of external powers . Palestinian groups insist that humanitarian aid must be managed by Palestinian institutions under UN supervision, not by bodies aligned with the interests of the US and Israel .
Adding to the plan's lack of credibility, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly and repeatedly reaffirmed his "opposition to a Palestinian state on any territory west of the Jordan River," a position he stated has "not changed one bit" . This declaration highlights the profound hypocrisy of the US approach, which claims to offer a pathway to statehood while backing an Israeli government that openly rejects it. Far-right members of Netanyahu's coalition have gone even further, with one minister outright denying the existence of a Palestinian people .
The resolution text suggests that conditions for statehood could be in place only after the Palestinian Authority (PA) completes a reform program . This framework is widely viewed as a mechanism to impose external demands on Palestinian governance. Meanwhile, Russia has circulated a competing draft resolution that requests the UN Secretary-General to develop options for a stabilisation force, arguing that the US concept lacks alignment with previously agreed international principles . This alternative vision reflects the deep divisions within the Security Council regarding the US-led approach.
The political maneuvering at the UN occurs against a backdrop of immense human suffering in Gaza. Conditions remain dire, with heavy rains and flooding affecting thousands of displaced families . While aid delivery has seen a slight increase, access limits and restrictions continue to hamper relief efforts. The scale of destruction is staggering, with debris teams having cleared only a fraction of the estimated 58 million tonnes of rubble left by the two-year conflict . This devastation underscores the urgent need for a genuinely Palestinian-led recovery process, free from external imposition.