By Evgenia Filimianova & Joseph Lord
Contributing Writers
The U.N. Security Council on Monday approved a U.S.-drafted resolution that endorses President Donald Trump’s Gaza cease-fire plan, a central component of Washington’s push to end the two-year conflict between Israel and the Hamas terrorist group.
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz, who previously served as Trump’s national security adviser, said the resolution is “historic and constructive.”
“[The Nov. 17] 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,” he said.
Waltz said the passage of the resolution is “just the beginning” as the United States seeks to carry out Trump’s plan to end the conflict between Israel and Hamas, which began in October 2023.
Russia and China — two veto-holding members of the U.N. Security Council — ultimately abstained from the vote on Monday evening, following concerns that either might veto the resolution.
Russia had previously put forward an alternative draft, saying that the U.S. plan does not adequately reflect long-standing international legal principles, including the two-state framework.
Moscow’s proposal outlined clearer terms for deploying a peacekeeping contingent and administering the Gaza Strip.
The U.S. proposal approved on Monday, which was first announced on Sept. 29 and then circulated in November, backs Trump’s 20-point peace plan, called the Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict.
The plan lays out a phased approach that began with the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian detainees and expanded humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip.
Under the second phase, Hamas would be required to decommission its weapons. The Israel Defense Forces would withdraw further from the enclave as security responsibilities were transferred to a new International Stabilization Force.
The plan also calls for the creation of an interim technocratic government consisting of Palestinian and international experts and overseen by a Board of Peace chaired by Trump.
This body would eventually hand authority over the Gaza Strip to a reformed Palestinian Authority, creating what the document describes as “a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood.”
A spokesperson for the U.S. Mission to the U.N. said in a statement on Nov. 5 that the resolution “welcomes the [Board of Peace] and authorizes the [International Stabilization Force]” and paves the way for “a safer and more prosperous Gaza.”
The spokesperson wrote that the United States wants to “deliver results at the U.N. — not endless talk” and that regional actors had “seized this historic opportunity to finally end decades of bloodshed.”
On Friday, the United States and several regional and Islamic states — Qatar, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Jordan, and Turkey — issued a joint statement in support of the draft resolution, urging its swift adoption.
The U.K., a permanent member of the council, voiced support a day later, stating that it was imperative to “seize the momentum” and begin that work as soon as possible.
Opposition From Hamas
Hamas has expressed opposition to the deal so far.
Ahead of the vote, Hamas, which has committed to the first phase of the cease-fire agreement but has so far refused to disarm, said amendments and core elements of the U.S. text “do not contribute to stabilizing the situation in Gaza,” according to Al-Aqsa TV, a Hamas-run media outlet.
Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said on Monday that the group wants a resolution that stops what it described as Israel’s “aggression against Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem,” stating that the United States is “trying to appease certain parties with non-binding wording.”
The terrorist group Popular Resistance Committees stated that the U.S. draft served to “reinforce U.S.-Israeli dominance” and amounted to “a new form of Israeli occupation,” according to Al-Aqsa TV.
The group stated that it opposed any deployment of international or foreign forces inside the Gaza Strip and objected to what it described as U.S. oversight of Gaza Strip administration.
Maher Al-Taher, a senior official of the terrorist group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said the danger of establishing an international force in the Gaza Strip is that it could turn the enclave “into an area outside Palestinian governance,” according to Al-Aqsa TV.
“The transitional phase could last for years, posing a major risk and keeping Gaza under a new form of occupation,” he said.
Israeli Position
Israel maintains that Hamas is seeking to block Trump’s peace plan from advancing because the proposal requires the group to disarm.
“Hamas is trying to do everything possible to avoid this,” Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein said on Oct. 29.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his Cabinet on Oct. 26 that Israel would decide which international forces could operate in the Gaza Strip. A day later, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Israel would not accept the deployment of Turkish armed forces in the enclave.
According to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, any international security force sent to the Gaza Strip under a cease-fire arrangement would need to consist of countries Israel is “comfortable with.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
