On Monday, President Donald Trump achieved a significant milestone as the UN Security Council endorsed his peace initiative for Gaza, potentially paving the way for troop deployment in the conflict-ridden region.

The proposal, which outlines a roadmap for establishing a future Palestinian state, garnered substantial support with 13 votes in favor. Notably, Russia and China chose to abstain, and no country exercised its veto power.

This development follows recent diplomatic efforts by Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, who traveled to Egypt to negotiate the peace agreement with officials from Hamas and Qatar.

In a Monday night post on his Truth Social platform, President Trump hailed the vote as a pivotal moment, describing it as one of the most significant endorsements in United Nations history. He expressed confidence that it would contribute to global peace and marked it as a historic achievement.

Trump congratulated the global community on the UN Security Council’s remarkable decision, announcing the establishment of the BOARD OF PEACE. He stated that he would chair this board, which would include influential and respected leaders from around the world.

Trump added that ‘the members of the Board and many more exciting announcements will be made in the coming weeks.’ 

US ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz also praised the resolution on Monday as ‘another significant step that will enable Gaza to prosper and an environment that will allow Israel to live in security.’

The text, which was revised several times as a result of high-stakes negotiations, ‘endorses’ the US president’s plan, which allowed for a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas to take hold on October 10 in the war-wracked Palestinian territory.

It was finally adopted Monday evening after Waltz pushed his colleagues to vote in favor of the measure, which he called a ‘bold, pragmatic blueprint’ for peace, Fox News reports.

President Donald Trump scored a monumental victory on Monday as the UN Security Council voted in favor of his plan for peace in Gaza

The US was joined by 13 other nations in approving the bill, which Trump’s Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz (pictured) praised as a ‘significant step that will enable Gaza to prosper’

The Gaza Strip has been largely reduced to rubble after two years of fighting, sparked by Hamas’ s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. A woman is pictured searching through the rubble of her home in Gaza City for clothes on Friday 

 He went on to describe Gaza as ‘a hell on Earth’ after two years of war, saying the resolution offered the world a chance to replace ‘rubble where schools once stood’ with a ‘path to peace.’

‘Voting “yes” today isn’t just endorsing a plan,’ Waltz said. ‘It’s affirming our shared humanity.

‘A vote against this resolution is a vote to return to war.’ 

Waltz also credited Kushner and Witkoff for brokering the historic deal, which he said has already produced ‘tangible results’ including a holding ceasefire and the release of 45 hostages by Hamas – despite repeated Israeli strikes on Gaza and outbreaks of violence in the West Bank.

The US will now work to ensure the remaining hostages are returned to Israel, the UN ambassador noted.

He also argued that Trump’s plan ‘charts a path for Palestinian self-determination after the Palestinian Authority completes key reforms.

‘It dismantles Hamas’s grip and ensures Gaza rises free from terror’s shadow – prosperous and secure,’ he said. 

Under Trump’s peace plan, an International Stabilization Force (ISF) would be created that would work with Israel and Egypt as well as newly-trained Palestinian police to help secure border areas and demilitarize the Gaza Strip.

President Donald Trump celebrated the news on his Truth Social page

Demonstrations pictured outside the UN in Manhattan ahead of the vote on Monday 

The ISF is mandated to work on the ‘permanent decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups,’ protecting civilians and securing humanitarian aid corridors.

Trump’s plan also authorizes the formation of a ‘Board of Peace,’ a transitional governing body for Gaza – which Trump would theoretically chair – with a mandate running until the end of 2027.

‘The path to prosperity requires security first,’ Waltz explained. ‘Security is the oxygen that governance and development need to live and thrive.’ 

The resolution even mentions a possible future Palestinian state.

Once the Palestinian Authority has carried out requested reforms and the rebuilding of Gaza is underway, ‘the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood,’ the draft says.

Representatives from a number of Arab and Muslim countries – including Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – pushed members of the Security Council to vote in favor of the measure, The New York Times reports. 

Member countries including France, Slovenia, Guyana, Pakistan and Somalia originally had issues with the resolution’s vague language on Palestinian statehood.

But they said on Monday they endorsed the resolution to support the political momentum for a Palestinian state, prevent the resurgence of violence and allow humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.

Still, the member groups reiterated that the territorial integrity  of Gaza must remain intact and lasting peace must be rooted in a two-state solution. 

Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff traveled to the Middle East to iron out the peace deal

The plan could see the deployment of troops to war-torn Gaza (pictured on November 17, 2025) 

‘Genuine peace in the Middle East cannot be achieved without justice – justice for the Palestinian people, who have waited for decades for the creation of their independent state,’ said Algeria’s ambassador to the UN, Amar Bendjama – the only Arab member on the Security Council. 

Yet Israeli officials have firmly objected to a new Palestinian country, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday declaring ‘our opposition to a Palestinian state in any territory has not changed.’ 

The peace deal also faces other hurdles as well, including how to confront the remaining Hamas terrorists in Gaza, which Israeli UN Ambassador Danny Dannon said is a critical part of the plan.

‘Just as we are determined to bring all the hostages home, we will demonstrate the same determination in ensuring that Hamas is disarmed,’ he said.

‘We will not stop or let up until Hamas no longer presents a threat to the State of Israel.’ 

However, the Arab and Muslim countries that are expected to send troops to the area – including Egypt, Turkey, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates – have been wary about their soldiers engaging in armed clashes with Palestinian militants and that any further bloodshed may turn Arab public opinion against their involvement.

They even requested that the Trump administration get the resolution approved by the UN Security Council so that their troops would not be viewed as occupiers.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (pictured with Trump in October) stressed on Sunday that the country remains opposed to a Palestinian state

Palestinians are pictured carrying sacks of flour unloaded from a humanitarian aid convoy that reached Gaza City in July

Palestinians move along a street flanked by the rubble of residential buildings destroyed in Israeli strikes in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City on Friday

But veto-wielding Russia circulated a competing draft, saying the US document does not go far enough towards backing the creation of a Palestinian state.

Moscow’s text, first reported by AFP, asked the Council to express its ‘unwavering commitment to the vision of the two-state solution.’

It would not have authorized a Board of Peace or the deployment of an international force for the time being, instead asking UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to offer ‘options’ on those issues.

But Waltz said ahead of the vote ‘delaying will cost lives,’ adding that ‘everyday without this force, aid trucks lie idle, children starve and extremists re-group.’

‘President Trump’s historic 20-point plan marks the beginning of a strong, stable and prosperous region,’ the UN ambassador said.

‘Under President Trump’s bold leadership, the United States will continue to deliver results alongside our partners to make lasting peace a reality.’

The US won the backing of several Arab and Muslim-majority nations, publishing a joint statement of support for the text signed by Qatar, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Jordan, and Turkey.