(MENAFN) The UN Security Council has approved a US-drafted resolution endorsing a Gaza peace plan and establishing an International Stabilization Force (ISF) to operate under a newly formed Board of Peace (BOP). Russia and China abstained from the vote, citing concerns that the resolution contains significant practical caveats and could undermine the two-state solution.

The 15-member council voted Monday to back the US text, which supports President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan to end the Gaza conflict and legitimizes the BOP as a transitional governance body. The ISF is expected to include troops from Arab nations and other countries to provide security, train a new Palestinian police force, and oversee demilitarization and redevelopment efforts in Gaza.

US Ambassador Mike Waltz described the resolution as “another significant step towards a stable Gaza that will be able to prosper and an environment that will allow Israel to live in security,” adding that the ISF will “support the demilitarization of Gaza, [and] dismantle terrorist infrastructure.”

Russia, which could have vetoed the measure, abstained. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia criticized the resolution as “yet another pig in a poke,” warning that the council was relying solely on Washington’s assurances and leaving Gaza at the mercy of the BOP and ISF, whose operations remain unclear. He urged UN members to ensure that the resolution “does not become a smokescreen for unbridled experiments by the US and Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory nor turn into a death sentence for the two-state solution.”

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