DROP SITE NEWS, NOV 18, 2025

Trump’s Plan for Gaza

The UN Security Council approved the Trump administration’s plan for Gaza on Tuesday by a vote of 13-0, with Russia and China abstaining. The resolution authorizes an international stabilization force in Gaza to work to demilitarize the Palestinian resistance by ensuring “the permanent decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups” and authorizes it “to use all necessary measures to carry out its mandate.” The resolution also approves the creation of a “board of peace” with sweeping authority over Gaza, including overseeing reconstruction, security, economic recovery, and coordinating the distribution of humanitarian aid. Authorization for the board and the international stabilization force expires at the end of 2027. The resolution gives no timeline or guarantee for an independent state but says that, after reconstruction moves forward and reforms are made in the Palestinian Authority, “the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood.”

President Donald Trump celebrated the Security Council’s endorsement of his proposed “Board of Peace,” saying he will chair it alongside “the most powerful and respected leaders” (Jared Kushner and Tony Blair) and calling the approval “one of the biggest” in UN history. He claimed the measure will bring “further peace all over the world” and highlighted backing from Qatar, Egypt, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Turkey, and Jordan.

Before the vote, U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz warned that “a vote against this resolution is a vote to return to war,” as Washington pressed members to back the plan.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu applauded the vote on Tuesday with his office saying in a social media post: “We believe that President Trump‘s plan will lead to peace and prosperity because it insists upon full demilitarization, disarmament and the deradicalization of Gaza.”

Hamas blasted the resolution, saying in a statement that it “does not meet the level of our Palestinian people’s political and humanitarian demands and rights,” calling it a plan that “imposes a mechanism to achieve the occupation’s objectives, which it failed to accomplish through its brutal genocide.”

Hours before the UN Security Council vote on the U.S.-backed Gaza plan, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir escalated threats against the Palestinian Authority, saying Mahmoud Abbas should be placed “in solitary confinement” and that senior PA officials should face “targeted killings” if the UN advances recognition of a Palestinian state, which he dismissed as a project of an “invented people.” Times of Israel reports that he told his faction that Israel must prepare orders for assassinations and arrest warrants, adding that “a solitary confinement cell is ready for him in Ketziot Prison.” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, at his own faction meeting, vowed to block “any path” to Palestinian statehood, calling it his “life’s mission” and insisting that any such state should be established in “Arab countries” or Europe but “not here,” where he said Israel will retain “full sovereignty.” The Palestinian Authority welcomed the resolution and said it was ready to immediately implement it on the ground.