Israel's ambassador to the United Nations said Monday that Hamas must be fully disarmed and all hostages returned before any peace agreement in Gaza can take hold, underscoring Israel's core demands as the U.N. Security Council approved a resolution tied to President Donald Trump's peace plan.
Danny Danon said the international community must remain committed to stripping Iranian-backed Hamas of its weapons and securing the release of every hostage taken during Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack.
The bodies of three Israelis — Ran Gvili, Dror Or, and Sudthisak Rinthalak — remain in Gaza.
"The demilitarization of Hamas is a basic condition of the peace agreement," Danon said in a statement provided to Newsmax by the Israeli Mission to the U.N.
"There will be no future in Gaza as long as Hamas possesses weapons.
"We are committed to make sure that all of the hostages are coming home and that Hamas is demilitarized. We will make sure that Hamas will not pose a threat on Israel."
The resolution, passed Monday, forms the central plank of the Trump administration's next steps to implement a lasting peace in the Gaza Strip following the two-year war between Israel and Hamas.
It passed the 15-member Security Council with 13 votes in favor; Russia and China abstained.
The measure authorizes elements of Trump's 20-point peace plan, including establishing a "Board of Peace" as a transitional authority that he will chair, and creating a temporary International Stabilization Force in Gaza, according to a draft seen by CNN.
Some diplomatic sources told CNN the resolution will help authorize countries to participate in the stabilization mission because it has U.N. backing.
The resolution also states the board would oversee the disarmament of Hamas and other terrorist factions — a key Israeli demand — as well as the reconstruction of Gaza, CNN reported.
It further contains a reference to Palestinian statehood, saying that "after the [Palestinian Authority] reform program is faithfully carried out and Gaza redevelopment has advanced, the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood."
"For two agonizing years, Gaza, home to over 2 million souls, has been a crucible of conflict," Michael Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., told the Security Council before the vote.
"A hell on earth where Hamas' brutality and terror met Israel's fierce response. Leaving rubble where schools once stood and graves where playgrounds thrived.
The death toll climbs into the tens of thousands. Hunger gnaws at the vulnerable and hope flickers like a candle in the storm.
"We have a ceasefire that is holding. Their plan has already silenced the guns and freed 45 hostages in this fragile, fragile first step. And let me be clear, the United States remains committed to ensuring that those remains, that the remains of the last three hostages held by Hamas must come home."
Hamas rejected the resolution, saying it fails to meet Palestinians' rights and demands and seeks to impose an international trusteeship in Gaza that Palestinians and "resistance factions" oppose, The Jerusalem Post reported.
"Assigning the international force with tasks and roles inside the Gaza Strip, including disarming the resistance, strips it of its neutrality, and turns it into a party to the conflict in favor of the occupation," the terror group said.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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