The United States is facing significant resistance at the United Nations Security Council for its plan to install a foreign-led administration and security force in Gaza, with Russia presenting a counter-proposal that has underscored deep international divisions over the post-war future of the Palestinian territory.
The diplomatic struggle intensified when the US attempted to force a vote on its draft resolution by placing it under a "silence procedure," a move that signifies negotiations are nearly complete. This procedure was broken by Russia and China, who submitted formal objections, effectively preventing an immediate vote that the US resolution would have likely lost. In response, Russia swiftly circulated its own draft resolution, offering a fundamentally different vision for Gaza that rejects foreign-imposed transitional authorities and instead reaffirms existing UN frameworks focused on an immediate ceasefire, humanitarian access, and a two-state solution. This move sets the stage for "intense, possibly prolonged" negotiations between the two competing visions.
The revised US draft resolution seeks a UN mandate to implement President Donald Trump's 20-point Gaza plan. Its core components have raised concerns among many Security Council members and Arab states.
The plan proposes a "Board of Peace," to be chaired by Trump himself, which would serve as a transitional foreign administration with ultimate authority over Gaza's governance, reconstruction, and aid coordination. The resolution offers little clarity on the Board's membership, rules, or accountability mechanisms, leading to concerns it could become a long-term trusteeship that sidelines Palestinian institutions. The draft makes no provision for a representative from the Palestinian Authority (PA) to sit on the Board, and instead sets heavy pre-conditions for the PA's potential return to power.
The resolution authorizes a temporary International Stabilization Force (ISF) with a broad mandate. A US official stressed this would be an "enforcement force, not a peacekeeping force," tasked with demilitarizing the Gaza Strip, a directive aimed at disarming Hamas and training a new Palestinian police force. Potential troop-contributing countries have expressed reservations about the force's mandate and the risk of direct conflict with Palestinian factions.
A key point of contention is that the draft links a full Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza to the ISF first establishing "control and stability". On statehood, the revised text offers a conditional pathway, stating that "after the Palestinian Authority reform programme is faithfully carried out and Gaza redevelopment has advanced, the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood".
Russia's alternative draft resolution presents a starkly different approach, grounded in existing UN resolutions and rejecting foreign administrative bodies.
The Russian text's primary focus is on "maintain[ing] the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip that should lead to a comprehensive and permanent cessation of hostilities". It demands "full, rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access" and firmly "rejects any attempt at demographic or territorial change" in Gaza. Politically, it reiterates an "unwavering commitment to the vision of the two-state solution" and stresses the importance of "the unity and the territorial contiguity of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority".
The US proposal has encountered skepticism from several quarters. Key Arab nations involved in the US's own consultations have expressed unease; the United Arab Emirates has publicly stated it will not participate in the proposed stabilization force under the current unclear framework. Meanwhile, Russia and China have called for the "Board of Peace" to be removed from the resolution entirely. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has emphasized that any entity created in Gaza "should have the legitimacy of a mandate from the Security Council," and that transitions must ultimately lead to Palestinian Authority governance and a two-state solution.
With the silence procedure broken, the US must now decide whether to make further concessions to secure a Council mandate or risk proceeding with a "coalition of the willing" outside the UN framework. The outcome of this diplomatic standoff will profoundly shape the structure of post-war governance in Gaza and the prospects for Palestinian self-determination.