USA submits UN Security Council resolution for Gaza security force

According to the US media platform Axios, the American government has submitted a draft resolution to various members of the UN Security Council that provides for the establishment of an International Security Force (ISF) in the Gaza Strip for at least two years, possibly longer.

The plan would give the USA and partner states far-reaching powers to administer and secure Gaza until 2027. The first troops are to be deployed as early as next January. The ISF is to act as an enforcement force and not merely as a traditional peacekeeping force. It is to operate under a unified command approved by a new “Peace Council”, which former President Trump intends to chair.

The force’s tasks are to include securing Gaza’s borders with Israel and Egypt, protecting civilians and aid corridors, training a Palestinian police force and demilitarizing the Gaza Strip – including disarming Hamas. The ISF could also take on additional tasks as part of a broader Gaza agreement. Several countries, including Indonesia, Azerbaijan, Egypt and Turkey, are said to have signaled their willingness to join the ISF. However, the Israeli government opposes the deployment of Turkish troops in Gaza because Turkey is close to Hamas and also provides refuge to various high-ranking Hamas leaders.

The ISF is intended to ensure security during a transitional phase in which Israel continues to withdraw from Gaza and the Palestinian Authority carries out reforms. According to the US peace plan, such reforms are a prerequisite for the Palestinian Authority’s long-term participation in the administration of Gaza.

The Peace Council would act as a kind of transitional government for Gaza, managing reconstruction, administering funding and overseeing a non-political Palestinian technocratic committee that would take on day-to-day administrative tasks. Aid deliveries would be coordinated in cooperation with the Peace Council and major international organizations. Actors who misuse the aid are to be excluded. In the past, the USA has repeatedly emphasized that cooperation with the UN Palestinian Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) is out of the question because it is infiltrated by Hamas and UNRWA employees were also involved in the massacre of October 7, 2023.