Now Enshrined in International Law, Here’s How Trump’s Gaza Plan Is In Full Force
- Uri Pilichowski
- Nov 30
- 3 min read
Updated: 7 days ago
One could hear the collective sighs of relief across the Middle East and in Washington. On September 29, US President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Hamas had agreed to a ceasefire. President Trump unveiled the plan at the White House alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said Israel accepted the terms. Hamas said it agreed to return all 48 remaining hostages being held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and Gaza detainees, and to the idea of handing over the governance of Gaza to Palestinian technocrats.
United Nations backs Trump’s Gaza plan
To bolster the agreement’s legitimacy, Trump moved to have the United Nations Security Council vote in support of the plan.
On November 17, the UN Security Council endorsed proposals put forward by Trump for a lasting peace in Gaza, including the deployment of an international stabilisation force and a possible path to a sovereign Palestinian state. The resolution was passed by a vote of 13-0, with abstentions by China and Russia. Supporters of the resolution said it should lead to the immediate lifting of remaining curbs on the flow of aid into Gaza, the creation of an international stabilization force which would fill the vacuum left by Israeli military withdrawal, and moves toward reconstruction and a possible “pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood.”
Significance of the UN backing
After the agreement was signed weeks ago, how important was the United Nation’s Security Council backing Trump’s agreement?
The vote authorizes the Board of Peace envisioned in Trump's Gaza plan, which is intended as a transitional authority to oversee the Strip's redevelopment. The vote also approved the International Stabilization Force, which -- under the command of the Board of Peace -- will provide security, train a new Palestinian police force and ensure the demilitarization of Gaza.
President Trump touted the "incredible Vote" as a "moment of true Historic proportion," in a post to social media.
There are those skeptical of whether the Board of Peace and the International Stabilization Force will themselves make a difference. If these two bodies institutional to the ceasefire agreement aren’t effective, or worse, are never established, the UN’s backing won’t make much of a difference.
Dahlia Scheindlin, a prominent Israeli pollster, public opinion analyst, and frequent Haaretz contributor known for her incisive dissections of Israeli society and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, wrote skeptically about the UN vote. Scheindlin likens it to the 1981 UN censure after Israel's Osirak bombing, a brief humbling that ultimately fortified Israel’s defiance. This sets the stage for her core skepticism.
Hopeful optics notwithstanding, the resolution's substance is too ethereal to compel change in a conflict defined by asymmetry and trauma. “The much-anticipated United Nations Security Council Resolution 2803, backing U.S. President Donald Trump's plan for Gaza and authorizing an international intervention mission, has satisfied few people other than Trump himself.
What will Trump's Gaza plan achieve?
Will it really live up to President Trump’s description of it as the creation of peace in the Middle East? Will the UN Security Council's endorsed proposals lead to a reconstructed Hamas-free Gaza?
The concern is that in a few years, an armed Hamas will have rebuilt its terror tunnels and like so many other UN Security Council votes, this one will be ignored and might actually empower Hamas and weaken the Palestinian people’s freedom.
“Only a prophet knows” what the future entails, but for now, the jury is still out on the importance of the UN Security Council's backing of Trump’s plan.
Uri Pilichowski is an author, speaker, and senior educator at institutions around the world.