As Hamas rejected a unanimous United Nations Security Council vote on Monday evening to pass a U.S.-drafted resolution on Gaza’s future, which unsettled Israeli officials due to its call for a pathway to Palestinian statehood, President Donald Trump congratulated the world.
“This will go down as one of the biggest approvals in the history of the United Nations, will lead to further peace all over the world and is a moment of true historic proportion,” Trump stated.
The council voted 13 to 0 on Monday to adopt the resolution codifying Trump’s 20-point peace plan, with Russia and China foregoing their veto power and abstaining. The U.S. president thanked each member state on the council by name, including Moscow and Beijing, as well as others, which are not on the council, who backed the plan.
The resolution implements a mandate for Washington and partners to launch an international stabilization force in Gaza and a Board of Peace, which Trump will chair and which will serve as a transitional government authority.
The resolution also sets parameters for Israeli troops to withdraw from Gaza, leaving some in place to guard against resurgent terror threats.
“The demilitarization of Hamas is a basic condition of the peace agreement,” stated Danny Danon, the Israeli envoy to the United Nations, after the vote. “There will be no future in Gaza as long as Hamas possesses weapons.”
The resolution also states that “conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood” after the Palestinian Authority undergoes reforms and Gaza’s reconstruction is “advanced.”
Taking care to avoid criticizing Trump and his efforts, several Israeli officials have said in recent days that there will not be a Palestinian state after the reference to the “pathway” first appeared in a revised draft of the resolution late last week.
Hamas stated that it has no intention of laying down its arms. “Resisting the occupation by all means is a legitimate right guaranteed by international laws and conventions,” the terror group reportedly said. “The weapons of the resistance are linked to the existence of the occupation, and any discussion of the weapons file must remain an internal national matter connected to a political path.”
It is not immediately clear if the international stabilization force, or another, will be charged with demilitarizing Hamas should the terror group fail to willingly disarm.
Hamas denounced the concept of the international stabilization force which, “if established, must be deployed only at the borders to separate forces, monitor the ceasefire and must be fully under U.N. supervision.”
“It must operate exclusively in coordination with official Palestinian institutions,” it said.
During the Security Council session during which the vote occurred, Mike Waltz, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said that “for two years, Gaza has been a crucible of conflict, a hell on earth where Hamas’s brutality and terror met Israel’s fierce response.”
“We have a ceasefire that is holding. This plan has already silenced the guns and freed the hostages in this fragile first step,” he said. “The remaining hostages must come home.”
Waltz said that more than a dozen European heads of state, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Arab allies of Trump’s supported the plan.
“With this kind of support, I ask you if the region most affected—the Arab nations, the Muslim majority nations, the Palestinians and the Israelis—can accept this resolution, how could anyone be against it?” Waltz told the council.
“I ask everyone today, are you more righteous in this cause than those who must live with it and will ultimately benefit from this plan for peace?” he said.
Moscow had voiced concern that the United States would be given the power to dictate the future of Gaza and drafted its own stripped-down resolution, which would have put the issue in the hands of United Nations leadership. Russia’s resolution was never brought up for a vote.
“We’ve already had the unfortunate experience of seeing solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict pushed through by the United States bringing about the opposite result of what was intended,” said Vassily Nebenzia, Russia’s envoy to the global body, at the session. “Don’t say we didn’t warn you.”
Nebenzia complained about what he said are ambiguous timelines to transfer power in Gaza to the Palestinian Authority and Israeli statements pushing back on Palestinian statehood.
Fu Cong, Beijing’s envoy to the global body, told council members that the resolution “outlines post-war governance arrangements for Gaza, but it seems Palestine is barely visible in it, and the Palestinian sovereignty and ownership are not fully reflected.”
France, which led diplomatic efforts this year to establish a Palestinian state, offered tepid support for the resolution on Monday.
“France voted ‘yes’ in order to meet the most urgent needs of the population and to support the ongoing peace efforts,” stated Jérôme Bonnafont, the French envoy to the United Nations. “The implementation of this resolution should be part of a clear political and legal framework.”
Danon was invited to Monday’s session but did not offer comments in the chamber. The Palestinian Authority did not appear to have a representative present.
Waltz told reporters after Monday’s council session that the Trump administration “made it clear that a vote against this resolution was a vote to return to war.”
The World Jewish Congress stated that the creation of the Gaza force “is a critical component of the broader regional peace framework first advanced by the United States and key partners.”
“It reflects a shared understanding that long-term stability in Gaza—and the prevention of Hamas’s return to power—are essential prerequisites for any future in which Israelis and Palestinians can live securely, side-by-side,” it said.
“Yesterday’s vote represents an important step toward restoring order and rebuilding hope in Gaza two years after the horrific Oct. 7 terrorist attack,” it said. “It is now incumbent upon the international community to approach this mission with seriousness, unity and a firm commitment to ensuring that Gaza can never again be used as a base for terror.”
Waltz spoke about the vote at the Tikvah 2025 Jewish Leadership Conference in New York City on Sunday, the day before the vote.
“Folks, tomorrow, knock on whatever I can, we will have a resolution backed by the eight Arab- and Muslim-majority countries that sat with President Trump during the U.N. General Assembly,” he said. “The key Arab countries, plus Turkey, plus Pakistan, plus Indonesia standing with us. We then got the Palestinian Authority to support this, and of course, we are working very closely with the government of Israel.”
“This will be the best resolution that I think the United States and Israel have seen in the 80-year history of the United Nations,” he said. “If we can hold it together another 24 hours, then this will be truly incredible, and you’re then going to have the international community coming in and dealing with and stabilizing Gaza.”
The choices were either Hamas or the Israeli military, he said.
“If it were the IDF in perpetuity, then frankly I don’t think we have a pathway to expanding the Abraham Accords, which is the number one objective of this administration,” he added. “Tomorrow could truly, truly be a historic day.”
