(MENAFN) The UN Security Council has adopted a US-drafted resolution backing a Gaza peace plan and authorizing an ‘International Stabilization Force’ (ISF) in the enclave. Russia and China abstained, arguing the resolution contains numerous practical caveats and could undermine the two-state solution.

On Monday, the 15-member council approved the US text, which endorses President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan to end the Gaza War and legitimizes the ‘Board of Peace’ (BOP) as a transitional governance body.

The resolution also supports an ISF under the BOP’s command, expected to include contingents from Arab nations and beyond to provide security, train a new Palestinian police force, and oversee demilitarization and redevelopment in Gaza.

US Ambassador Mike Waltz praised 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 resolution, chose not to, though Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia criticized it as “yet another pig in a poke.” He said, “The Council is giving its blessing to the US initiative relying exclusively on Washington’s honor, we leave the Gaza Strip at the mercy of the Board of Peace and the ISF, whose working methods are still unknown to us.”

Nebenzia also urged UN members to ensure 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.” Russia set aside its own draft after noting broad Arab support for the US resolution.

Hamas, which continues to control Gaza, denounced the resolution, arguing that the ISF’s mandate to disarm militant groups “strips it of its neutrality, and turns it into a party to the conflict in favor of the occupation.”

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