Palestine defenders decried Monday’s approval by the United Nations Security Council of a US plan authorizing a so-called international stabilization force for Gaza—a plan decried by one peace group as a denial of Palestinian self-determination.

Thirteen UNSC members voted for the resolution, while no nation voted against the proposal. China abstained, as did Russia, which submitted a rival draft resolution.

While US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz hailed the approval of what he called a “historic and constructive resolution," Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, rejected what it said “imposes an international guardianship mechanism on the Gaza Strip, which our people and their factions reject.”

“Assigning the international force with tasks and roles inside the Gaza Strip, including disarming the resistance, strips it of its neutrality, and turns it into a party to the conflict in favor of the occupation," added Hamas, which the US labels a terrorist organization.

After waging war on Gaza for over two years, Israeli officials also rejected the resolution for opening the door to Palestinian statehood—which is officially recognized by around 150 nations but is vehemently opposed by Israel—with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slamming Monday’s vote as “unacceptable.”

The approved stabilization force will be tasked with securing Gaza’s borders, protecting civilians, facilitating humanitarian assistance, supporting a redeployed Palestinian police force, and supervising disarmament of Hamas and other militant resistance groups. Under the plan, Israeli occupation forces would fully withdraw from Gaza after the stabilization force achieves security and operational control of the Palestinian exclave.

Then, a transitional governing body—the so-called Board of Peace led by US President Donald Trump—would be established to coordinate security, humanitarian aid, and reconstruction. The plan, which builds on Trump’s 20-point peace proposal adopted in last month’s tenuous ceasefire, dangles the carrot of a pathway toward Palestinian self-determination and statehood under a reformed Palestinian governing authority.

Human Rights Watch criticized the vote in an X post stating that “the fact that the words ‘human rights’ don’t appear in the resolution adopted by the Security Council today speaks volumes.”

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The US-based peace group CodePink said in a statement that “the resolution, while disguised as a peaceful and humanitarian proposal, is in reality a blueprint for the internationalization of the Israeli occupation and a complete denial of Palestinian self-determination.”

CodePink continued:

The resolution imposes a two-year mandate to “secure borders,” “protect civilians,” and “decommission weapons,” with the stated goal of disarming Palestinian resistance. However, it does nothing to address and end the root cause of the violence: Israel’s ongoing siege, occupation, and ethnic cleansing. The United States, which armed and shielded the Israeli government unconditionally as it killed and displaced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, should not be considered a neutral actor of good faith. A military force that answers to a “Board of Peace” chaired by the US president is an extension of US and Israeli interests, plain and simple.

“The establishment of a ‘technocratic Palestinian administration’ that answers to a US-led board will strip the Palestinian people of political agency,” CodePink added. “Essentially, it will leave Palestine in the hands of a puppet administration, assigning the United States, which shares complicity in the genocide, as the new manager of the open-air prison that Israel has already established.”

Members of the New York branch of the Palestine Youth Movement led a demonstration outside the US mission to the UN in Manhattan to protest the resolution.

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“We see through this thinly veiled attempt to strip the Palestinian people of their sovereignty, self-determination, and right of return,” the group said on Instagram. “The people reject any and all occupation plans for Gaza. Our movement will continue to struggle against Zionism and imperialism until Palestine is free, from the river to the sea.”

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