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The UN Security Council (UNSC) will vote on the US-sponsored draft resolution authorising an International Stabilisation Force (ISF) for Gaza on November 17 (Monday), diplomatic sources told Dawn on Saturday. The vote comes as Washington presses members to endorse US President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan, while Russia has formally placed a rival text before the UNSC, arguing that the American draft falls short of established international legal principles. Pakistan had joined other key Muslim and Arab states on Friday in expressing support for the US resolution. In a post on X, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the administration’s plan “is the best path to peace in the Middle East”, noting that the resolution “enjoys broad international and regional support”. “We are grateful to Qatar, Egypt, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Jordan, and Turkiye for their endorsement,” he wrote, adding that the Middle East has “never been this close to a real and lasting peace”. Soon after the US circulated its d...

Arab countries are leery about deploying troops in Gaza, and the U.S. proposal leaves many issues open. Washington will have to bend a few arms, including Israel's, but Trump has shown keen determination

The United States circulated a second revision of its draft resolution on Gaza at the UN Security Council (UNSC) on Thursday, even as Russia countered with its own text calling for the preservation of the current ceasefire and a renewed commitment to a two-state solution. Senior UN diplomats told Dawn that Washington placed “Revision 2” of its draft under a silence procedure until 6:30pm New York time on November 13, a step intended to indicate that the negotiation phase was nearly complete. Under this procedure, the absence of objections signifies consent. “But China and Russia broke the silence,” one diplomat said, noting that both delegations submitted formal objections shortly before the deadline. “Once silence is broken, other member states may also submit comments — and some did — although Pakistan did not,“ the diplomat added. Following the break, Russia swiftly distributed its own draft resolution to UNSC members. Breaking silence means, the US may now be forced to resume negotiations. Washington may ...

Godard, 73, was murdered on October 7, 2023, alongside his wife in Kibbutz Be'eri by Islamic Jihad, the Israeli army confirmed Thursday. Three deceased hostages remain in Gaza

In a notable shift, the U.S. has revised its UN Security Council resolution, the third draft submitted to date, to include mention of a pathway to Palestinian statehood. The resolution reflects ongoing efforts to secure international consensus for Trump's peace initiatives in Gaza

Main changes from the previous draft include recognition of the Saudi-French initiative on Palestine, mention of an Israeli withdrawal to the security perimeter in Gaza, and a demand to report the International Stabilization Force's operations to the UN

UNICEF said it faces serious challenges getting 1.6 million syringes and solar-powered fridges to store vaccine vials in Gaza as it launches a mass children's vaccination campaign

With reconstruction plans only set to move forward in Israel-controlled parts of Gaza, officials familiar with the matter said that without a definitive push by the U.S., the Yellow Line may indefinitely divide the Strip

According to an Israeli government spokesperson, the two discussed the 200 Hamas fighters currently trapped in tunnels under IDF-controlled territory, demilitarizing Gaza and 'ensuring Hamas does not have a role in Gaza ever again'

Rudaeff was killed when fighting off Hamas militants who infiltrated Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak near the Gaza border. 'In what world do they bury you after two years?' his son asked during his eulogy, adding, 'Who would have believed we'd have to fight to bring you back?'

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is not planning to join the international stabilisation force for Gaza because it lacks a clear framework, a senior official said on Monday. “The UAE does not yet see a clear framework for the stability force, and under such circumstances will probably not participate in such a force,” Emirati presidential adviser Anwar Gargash told the Abu Dhabi Strategic Debate forum. The US-coordinated international force has been seen as likely to include troops from Egypt, Qatar and Turkiye, as well as the UAE. Last week, US President Donald Trump said he expected the force to be in Gaza “very soon”, as a fragile ceasefire holds following two years of war. The oil-rich UAE is one of the few Arab nations with official ties to Israel after signing the Abraham Accords during Trump’s first term in 2020.

If Turkey decides to fall in line with the White House and pave the way for other countries to join the multinational force set to operate in Gaza, it is doubtful whether Israel – or an Israeli-Egyptian partnership – would be able to prevent the move

The partial success of Trump's Gaza peace plan embarrassed Netanyahu, but phase two has stalled due to delays in returning deceased Israeli hostages and the presence of Hamas gunmen trapped in Israeli-controlled Gaza enclaves, awaiting safe passage guarantees

• Hamas returns Israeli prisoner’s body; gets 15 Palestinians’ bodies in return • US coordinates Gaza aid flow but Israel maintains oversight, officials say JERUSALEM: Israeli forces continued to wage deadly assaults across the Palestinian territories and southern Lebanon on Saturday, in a series of air and artillery attacks that violated ceasefire agreements on both fronts. In the occupied West Bank, Israeli troops shot dead two 16-year-old boys, adding to the mounting number of Palestinian children killed by Israeli forces. The Palestinian health ministry in Ramallah identified the victims as Mohammed Abdullah Moham­med Ateem and Muhammad Rashad Fadl Qasim, both from the village of Judeira. The ministry said Israeli forces were withholding the boys’ bodies. The Israeli military acknowledged the killings, referring to the teenagers as individuals it had “eliminated” — a term frequently employed by Israeli authorities to obscure civilian deaths and dehumanise Palestinians. At the same time, in the besieged St...

Several rallies across Israel called for the release of the five remaining bodies of captives still being held in Gaza, while other demonstrations were held to protest the government and call for a state commission of inquiry into October 7

Rudaeff, who was killed on October 7, was a member of the Nir Yitzhak emergency security squad who fought the dozens of terrorists that had infiltrated his kibbutz on the Gaza border. Five slain hostages remain in the Gaza Strip

• Muslim diplomats parsing US resolution carefully, expect it to ‘evolve’ • Azerbaijan will only send peacekeepers ‘if fighting stops’ WASHINGTON: President Don­ald Trump said on Thursday that he expects a US-coordinated International Stabilisation Force (ISF) to be on the ground in Gaza “very soon”. The multinational force — likely to include troops from Mus­lim countries such as Egypt, Qat­ar, Turkiye, etc — is part of Trump’s post-war governance plan for Gaza. The plan helped lead to a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas on October 10, but the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has not abated. “It’s going to be very soon. And Gaza is working out very well,” Trump said at a White House fun­ction with Central Asian leaders. “You haven’t been hearing too much about problems, and I’ll tell you, we’ve had countries that have volunteered if there’s a problem with Hamas.” The force is supposed to train and support vetted Palestinian police in the Gaza Strip, with backing from Egypt and Jordan. It also will be tas...

The United States gathered intelligence last year that Israel’s military lawyers warned there was evidence that could support war crimes charges against Tel Aviv for its military operations in Gaza reliant on American-supplied weapons, five former US officials said. The previously unreported intelligence, described by the former officials as among the most startling shared with top US policymakers during the war, pointed to doubts within the Israeli military about the legality of its tactics that contrasted sharply with Israel’s public stance defending its actions. Two of the former US officials said the material was not broadly circulated within the government until late in the Biden administration, when it was disseminated more widely ahead of a congressional briefing in December 2024. The intelligence deepened concerns in Washington over Israel’s conduct in a war it said was necessary to eliminate Hamas fighters embedded in civilian infrastructure. There were concerns Israel was intentionally targeting civ...

The Americans reportedly envision a plan in which the gunmen cornered by Israel under Rafah in southern Gaza will hand over their weapons to a mediating country and leave their tunnels, which will be demolished

The United Nations Security Council on Thursday will start negotiations on a US-drafted resolution to endorse President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan, said a senior US government official, and authorise a two-year mandate for a transitional governance body and international stabilisation force. The United States formally circulated the draft resolution to the 15 council members late on Wednesday and has said it has regional support from Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and the United Arab Emirates for the text. “The message is: if the region is with us on this and the region is with us on how this resolution is constructed, then we believe that the council should be as well,” the senior US government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters. People gather and shop at a local market in Nuseirat, the central Gaza Strip on October 28. — Reuters/File A council resolution needs at least nine votes in favour and no vetoes by Russia, China, France, Britain or the United States to be adopted. Wh...