Since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into effect on October 10, Hamas has returned 20 living hostages and the remains of 22 of the 28 bodies of victims of the war, as outlined in the 20-point peace plan of US President Donald Trump.
The fragile truce that has ensued has been peppered by Hamas violations and IDF retaliation. While the US publicly acknowledges Israel’s right to respond to attacks that it ascribes to Hamas, multiple reports indicate the Trump administration is urging – or demanding – restraint from Jerusalem in order to keep the deal alive.
Another snag in advancing the implementation of the plan is the issue of the some 200 living Hamas fighters in tunnels on the Israeli side of the Yellow Line. According to point 6, ‘Once all hostages are returned, Hamas members who commit to peaceful co-existence and to decommission their weapons will be given amnesty. Members of Hamas who wish to leave Gaza will be provided safe passage to receiving countries.’
However, Hamas has not returned all of the hostages, and has been dragging its feet in releasing the remaining bodies of those held with excuses of not having the necessary equipment or not knowing the location of their burial, an assertion Israel rejects.
Stabilization Force needed in Gaza
The assessment is that the Hamas stonewalling is to prevent the implementation of the meat of the 20-point plan: “The process of demilitarization of Gaza under the supervision of independent monitors.”
Based on the trickling in of the remaining hostages, as Hamas opens and closes the tap at will, the next, very critical phase of the agreement will be on the table in a short time.
That was the trigger for the draft resolution submitted on Wednesday by the US to the UN Security Council regarding the Gaza post-war International Stabilization Force (ISF).
The draft includes an initiative to establish an international force that would operate in the Gaza Strip for at least two years, and whose task would be to demilitarize the strip, along with establishing a new Palestinian police force.
This interim force, which would operate under a unified command and in close coordination with Israel and Egypt, would also have the task of training new Palestinian security officials.
US Ambassador to the UN, Michael Waltz, invited the UNSC – along with Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates – to “demonstrate regional support for the resolution to the UN Security Council on Gaza,” the US mission to the UN stated.
The resolution is an important step in setting the parameters that will determine the nature of the continuation of the 20-point plan and the future of a Gaza that doesn’t pose a threat to Israel.
It is very perplexing and troubling that Israel wasn’t consulted about the contents of the US resolution. According to a senior figure of Israel’s National Security Council, as reported by the Post’s Amichai Stein, Israel did not receive the draft of this resolution beforehand.
Another source from the cabinet said: “We did not receive the document; that’s not correct at all. Journalists have more information; it doesn’t make sense. Since these are the most dramatic issues, we must be involved.”
We agree with Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, who warned in an interview with the Post against the ISF becoming another ineffective “UNIFIL” – referring to the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon that failed badly in preventing Hezbollah from arming itself and attacking Israel in recent decades.
“We have to learn from the mistakes of the past,” he said. “You want something constructive and effective, not an international presence that looks good on paper but actually destabilizes the situation,” said Danon.
Israel must be integrally involved in the next phase of the ceasefire and must be an equal partner with the US in determining what is best for its security. We have too much to lose if it’s not implemented properly.
The measure of success of the ISF will be tangible – the disarmament of Hamas and the dismantling of its tunnel infrastructure, for starters. Anything less will be a failure, will jeopardize Israel’s security, and will bring Israel and Hamas back to war.