UN Security Council to vote on US plan for Gaza force amid pushback

The UN Security Council is expected to vote on Monday on a US-backed plan to authorise an international military force in Gaza, even as Russia, China and several Arab states push back against the proposal.

The move comes as the first phase of the ceasefire reaches its final hours. What follows is far more complicated: establishing a governing authority for Gaza, deploying a foreign “stabilisation” force on the ground, and navigating the highly contentious demand for Hamas’s disarmament.

None of it is settled, and diplomats admit they have little clarity on how any of these steps will unfold.

For Palestinians who have survived months of devastation, the uncertainty carries a familiar fear, that Israel may resume the kind of large-scale assault that levelled neighbourhoods and wiped out families.

Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has killed at least 69,187 Palestinians, overwhelmingly women and children, since October 2023, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.