Video: Marco Rubio during his visit to the Gaza command center / Credit: CONTACT

The new headquarters is being set up at a rapid and impressive pace. The Americans, as it happens, know how to improvise on the dime just as capably as the Israelis. Their leaders' determination to closely follow developments is the reason for their aerial convoy to the site – not to provide Israeli babysitting, as critics suggest.

"There has never been anything like this," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said while visiting the place two days ago. Indeed, there never has been. An international blend of Israelis, Americans, French, Germans, Canadians, Cypriots, Greeks, and others moves through the enormous hangars. I even thought I spotted a United Arab Emirates flag in the corner.

Nevertheless, it's uncomfortable to report that at this preliminary stage, the crowds of soldiers, officers, and civilians don't precisely know what to do with themselves yet. Before Rubio's arrival, they didn't even trouble themselves to sit at their computer workstations. Only when he neared the work stations did someone issue instructions to occupy the chairs to generate the appearance of "quiet, working." I was present to observe it.

The hundreds of dedicated people who arrived to serve at the location don't know what to do, for the straightforward reason that everything remains in organizational phases. Nobody possesses plans yet – even unclear ones – for where to proceed from here, only good intentions. The war halted abruptly, and this represents a tremendous international accomplishment. Nevertheless, the practical path forward is extremely complicated, and its execution will prove more challenging.

Here's what's absent: A unified international force, certainty regarding the nations that will comprise it, coordination methods between the different armies that will function within it, work plans, schedules, orderly directives, guidelines on what occurs in problematic scenarios, and evidently also a Security Council resolution without which the force – which obtained the acronym ISF – won't be established whatsoever. This is likely not the entire list.

Pressure on Hamas

Preparing each of these stages will require time, especially if the Security Council intervenes midway. Consequently, even though the Americans and the Israelis assisting them are all functioning at Trump speed, in the optimal scenario, weeks will elapse before the ISF commences dismantling Hamas from its armaments, demolishing the tunnels, and demilitarizing Gaza. In the less favorable and more probable scenario, months will elapse.

Those already thoroughly exploiting the transitional period are Hamas murderers. It's been five days they haven't returned the deceased hostages, signifying they're flagrantly violating the ceasefire agreement. Hamas is re-establishing its regime in the half of the Strip that remained under its control. It can be assumed that the organization is also restoring terror infrastructure at an expedited pace. That's what it exists for, ultimately.

Hamas' restoration while the ISF organizes is hazardous to Israel, naturally, but equally important – it jeopardizes Trump's plan. Every day that elapses without someone mowing the terror lawn will render the ISF's future work more challenging, perhaps even unfeasible. We've witnessed in the past the West's struggles in eradicating terror in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Because ultimately – this is at minimum the intention – a moment will come when the international force will need to confront Hamas terrorists directly. Following two years of war, the organization is presently at the peak of its weakness. Trump's interest ought to be that this situation continues. Nevertheless, time plays into the terrorists' advantage. Like a phoenix, they're reconstructing themselves afresh in Gaza's dunes – construction that opposes the interests of both the US and Israel. Trump himself, and also Rubio on Friday, once more emphasized they're committed to eliminating Hamas.

What, consequently, must be accomplished so the 20-point plan's objectives don't evaporate? The answer is that the transitional period until the ISF begins work must be exploited in a manner that won't undermine the plan. How? The US must permit Israel to do in Gaza precisely what it authorizes IDF forces to do in Lebanon. Specifically, not allow terror to rear its head. No, this doesn't jeopardize the ceasefire. The Israelis don't desire the war's renewal either. They overwhelmingly endorsed the plan the president presented.

Nevertheless, there are intermediate situations where there's no full war, but also not sitting with zero activity facing strengthening terror. This is what's occurring in Lebanon, in Judea and Samaria, and also in various theaters where the US functioned for many years and justifiably against terror.

Allow the IDF to operate

Trump's plan was and remains beneficial for Israel, the region and peace. Nevertheless, until the international community advances to its subsequent sections, and so the force will possess the capability to do so, the IDF must be permitted to operate also in Gaza's western side.

Trump believes, rightfully, in "peace through strength." The most precise implementation of this principle is cutting down the emerging terror in recent days inside Gaza. This is the method to guarantee the ISF will have easier work, meaning its success in maintaining peace in the future will be greater.

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The UN Security Council on Monday afternoon overwhelmingly approved a US resolution that welcomes a proposal for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. The US says Israel has accepted the three-phase plan announced by US President Joe Biden, and Hamas welcomed it in a statement shortly after the council's vote.

The resolution urges both Israel and Hamas "to fully implement its terms without delay and without condition." US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also began a new visit to the region on Monday in the shadow of the dramatic rescue of four Israeli hostages held in Gaza and turmoil in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.

Blinken met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi in Cairo, but neither made public remarks. Blinken will also travel to Israel, Jordan and Qatar. While Biden, Blinken, and other US officials have praised the hostage rescue, the operation resulted in the deaths of a large number of Palestinian civilians. It may complicate the cease-fire push by emboldening Israel and hardening Hamas' resolve to carry on fighting in the war it initiated with its Oct. 7 attack into Israel.

Russia abstained from the UN vote, while the remaining 14 Security Council members voted in favor of the resolution supporting a three-phase ceasefire plan laid out by Biden on May 31 that he described as an Israeli initiative.

"Today we voted for peace," US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the council after the vote.

Algeria, the only Arab member of the council, supported the resolution because "we believe it can represent a step forward toward an immediate and lasting ceasefire," Algeria's UN Ambassador Amar Bendjama told the council. "It offers a glimmer of hope to the Palestinians," he said. "It's time to halt the killing."

The resolution also goes into detail about the proposal, and spells out that "if the negotiations take longer than six weeks for phase one, the ceasefire will still continue as long as negotiations continue."

However, it did not contain enough detail for Moscow. Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia asked what Israel had specifically agreed to and said the Security Council should not be signing up to agreements with "vague parameters."

"We did not wish to block the resolution simply because it, as much as we understand, is supported by the Arab world," Nebenzia told the council. Israel's UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan was present for the vote, but did not address the council. Instead, senior Israeli UN diplomat Reut Shapir Ben Naftaly told the body that Israel's goals in Gaza had always been clear.

"Israel is committed to these goals – to free all the hostages, to destroy Hamas' military and governing capabilities and to ensure that Gaza does not pose a threat to Israel in the future," she said. "It is Hamas that is preventing this war from ending. Hamas and Hamas alone."

Hamas welcomed the adoption of the US.-drafted resolution and said in a statement that it is ready to cooperate with mediators over implementing the principles of the plan "that are consistent with the demands of our people and resistance."

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It was a ministerial-level meeting for which almost no one sent a foreign minister. And it seems to be reflective of how stale and tired the United Nations' regular debates on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have become.

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Norway, the longtime UN penholder of the Israeli-Palestinian file, holds the presidency of the UN Security Council this month and sought to upgrade the monthly meeting on the issue to, in its words, refocus the Council's attention on the topic.

"My hope is to contribute toward renewed efforts to solving the conflict. The two-state solution is the only viable path to peace and security for both peoples. I invite the Security Council to join me in calling for this. The current situation is volatile and could flare up at any time, bringing violence and hostilities. … My fear is that we forget this conflict, and it is in Norwegian interests to keep attention on it," said Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt before the open debate got underway on Wednesday.

Despite Norway sending its foreign minister to chair the discussion, Ghana was the only other Security Council member to bring its top diplomat to New York. Norway set the tone early, chiding Israel for settlement activity and evictions of Palestinians in Jerusalem, while lamenting the Palestinian Authority's "severe financial difficulty," leaving unmentioned the Ramallah-based government's rampant corruption and its policy of paying a substantial portion of its budget to terrorists who kill and maim Israelis, including civilians.

"When the Palestinians see the support and honor that their leaders give to terrorists, they clearly see that terror pays. … The Palestinian Authority continues to pay the salaries of terrorists in a 'pay to slay' policy that means, the more Jewish blood you spill, the more money you and your family get," Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan said in the Security Council Chamber.

Erdan sought to counter the narrative of PA Foreign Minister Riad Al-Maliki, who, among other things, accused the Security Council of allowing Israel to act with impunity through the failure to enforce any number of its own resolutions.

"We heard from the Palestinian foreign minister. We heard all the regurgitated accusations and baseless claims. But as he stands here and points the finger at Israel, what the minister conveniently ignores is that in the last month, just one month, more than 200 terror attacks have been carried out by Palestinians against Israeli citizens – 143 rock-throwing attacks in just a month, 20 grenades and Molotov cocktails in just a month. And dozens more stabbings, car rammings, shootings and other violent physical attacks risking and claiming Israeli lives all in just a month. That ended a year which saw thousands of other violent attacks against Israelis; attacks that are, at best, only marginally mentioned to the Council."

Erdan put an emphasis on rock attacks, noting their deadly, violent nature. He brought a large rock to the podium while addressing reporters, noting that a stone of that size claimed the life of four-year-old Israeli Adele Biton. Maliki later called Erdan's presentation a gimmick as he struggled to explain to reporters the "engineering" of how difficult it would be to throw such a rock more than a meter.

Erdan also took to task the Council and reporters for swallowing the "false Palestinian narrative" surrounding this week's eviction of a Palestinian family from a home in the Shimon HaTzadik/Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem, noting that Israel's independent judiciary found that the home was illegally built and that the land is to be used for a special-needs school for the neighborhood's Palestinian residents, as well as six kindergartens and other public facilities.

From clean-water concerns to an uptick in antisemitism

There was some notable balance in the debate.

Civil society organizations who are invited to present at these meetings are nearly invariably slanted towards extreme criticism of Israel. This time, the Israeli and Palestinian co-directors of EcoPeace Middle East, a regional environmental peacebuilding organization that includes Jordan, were brought in to speak.

Palestinian director Nada Majdalani spoke of seeking a "green-blue deal" for the Middle East, including the restoration of the Jordan River watershed, noting that failures in the peace process enable further water scarcity, putting pressure on the Palestinian economy. Israeli Gidon Bromberg urged an end to "zero-sum" thinking on water issues as climate change creates fresh scarcity and conflict threats, citing Israeli leadership on water security but also a "sanitation crisis" in the Palestinian-governed territories.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who has previously called for less obsession with the Israeli-Palestinian file at the council, reiterated her opposition to the council's often laser-focus on purported Israeli violations, asserting that a trust gap between Israelis and Palestinians is "the single biggest obstacle to political progress and peace," and that most of the work of rebuilding that trust needs to be done directly between the Israelis and Palestinians themselves.

"Let me start by reaffirming our strong support for a two-state solution, one in which a Jewish and democratic Israel lives in peace alongside a sovereign, democratic and viable Palestinian state. And as I've noted before, I look forward to the day when we do not find the need to single out Israel for this type of unfair focus in this council," said Thomas-Greenfield, who added that, for the first time in many years, all Security Council members have diplomatic relations with Israel, serving as a testament to Israel's global contributions.

She spent a substantial portion of her statement focused on antisemitism, noting that International Holocaust Remembrance Day is approaching on Jan. 27.

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"The harrowing events in Colleyville, Texas, this past weekend brought this home for us Americans. It reminds us that we all must work together to stand against antisemitism and extremism. The United States will continue to champion justice for victims of antisemitism, and for Holocaust survivors and their descendants. We are committed to building a world where the lessons of the Holocaust are taught universally, where survivors live out their days in dignity and comfort, and where all humans' lives are shown decency and compassion," said Thomas-Greenfield.

Notably, United Arab Emirates Ambassador to the UN Lana Nusseibeh, whose family has ties to Jerusalem dating back centuries and whose uncle was supposed to run on a UAE-backed electoral list opposing the PA last year before PA leader Mahmoud Abbas again canceled elections, addressed the council on the conflict for the first time since the UAE joined it this month.

Nusseibeh was mild in her criticism of Israel and gave no praise to the PA, spending the opening portion of her statement denouncing this week's terror attack by Iran-backed Houthi rebels on the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi. Erdan offered his condolences to the UAE at the outset of his own remarks, placing the blame on Iran for the actions of its proxy in Yemen.

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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At a minimum, the 15-member body could discuss Friday's killing of nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh behind closed doors if a member requests such a meeting or it could agree on – by consensus – a statement on the issue.

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But South Africa's UN ambassador, Jerry Matjila, council president for December, said on Tuesday that no member had so far requested to discuss the killing or Iran in general. Diplomats also said there had been no discussion of a statement.

The Security Council is charged with maintaining international peace and security and has the ability to authorize military action and impose sanctions. But such measures require at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States, France, Britain, Russia or China.

While no party has claimed responsibility for the killing of Fakhrizadeh – viewed by Western powers as the architect of Iran's nuclear weapons program – Iran has accused Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office has declined to comment.

Washington, which traditionally shields Israel in the Security Council, has declined to comment on the assassination of the scientist.

The UN investigator on extra-judicial executions, Agnes Callamard, said on Friday that many questions surrounded the killing of Fakhrizadeh, but noted the definition of an extraterritorial targeted killing outside of an armed conflict.

Callamard posted on Twitter that such a killing was "a violation of international human rights law prohibiting the arbitrary deprivation of life and a violation of the UN Charter prohibiting the use of force extraterritorially in times of peace."

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia's minister of state for foreign affairs on Tuesday criticized Iran's foreign minister for implicating Riyadh in Fakhrizadeh's killing.

"Iranian Foreign Minister [Mohammad Javad] Zarif is desperate to blame the Kingdom for anything negative that happens in Iran. Will he blame us for the next earthquake or flood?" minister Adel Al-Jubeir said in a tweet.

"It is not the policy of Saudi Arabia to engage in assassinations; unlike Iran, which has done so since the Khomeini Revolution in 1979," he added.

Jubeir's remarks appeared to be a response to comments made on Monday by Zarif which suggested a covert meeting in Saudi Arabia between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Netanyahu contributed to the assassination of Fakhrizadeh.

"[US Secretary of State Mike] Pompeo's hurried trips to the region, the trilateral meeting in Saudi Arabia and Netanyahu's statements all point to this conspiracy that unfortunately emerged in Friday's cowardly terrorist act and the martyrdom of one of the country's top executives," Zarif wrote on Instagram.

A senior Iranian official has said that Tehran suspects a foreign-based opposition group of complicity with Israel in the killing of Fakhrizadeh.

The group rejected the accusation.

Saudi Arabia has not formally condemned the assassination, unlike the other five Gulf Cooperation Council member countries.

Asked in an interview with Russian broadcaster RT on Tuesday to comment on the killing, Riyadh's United Nations envoy said the kingdom "did not support the policy of assassinations at all."

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Israel Hayom has learned that Craft was supposed to arrive in Israel later this week, accompanied by Israel's Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon.

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However, amid the recent diplomatic developments and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington, Craft decided, as stated, to postpone her visit to Israel until after the country's general election on March 2.

Israeli and American representatives in the UN believe the unveiling of the Trump peace plan will spark resistance within the various UN bodies, specifically the Security Council.

Consequently, Craft and Danon will remain in New York throughout the week. The two are expected to work together to coordinate their responses to the various challenges expected to arise after the peace plan is published.

One possibility is that the UN Security Council will convene an emergency session.

As a reminder, the Security Council called an emergency session after US President Donald Trump transferred the US Embassy to Jerusalem, but an American veto prevented official condemnation of the move.

An official condemnation was subsequently passed by a large majority in the UN General Assembly. The Security Council also convened after the Trump administration recognized Israeli sovereignty on the Golan Heights, but the Syrian ambassador was the target of criticism due to the Assad regime's role in the country's bloody civil war.

Both Danon and Craft want to be ready for any similar scenarios, should they arise.

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The 1968 NPT has been the foundation of global nuclear arms control since the Cold War, including a 2015 deal Iran signed with world powers that offered it access to global trade in return for accepting curbs to its atomic program.

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Britain, France and Germany declared Iran in violation of the 2015 pact last week and have launched a dispute mechanism that could eventually see the matter referred back to the Security Council and the reimposition of UN sanctions.

"If the Europeans continue their improper behavior or send Iran's file to the Security Council, we will withdraw from the NPT," Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said, according to comments carried by the state's IRNA news agency.

The fate of the 2015 pact has been in doubt since US President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of it and reimposed sanctions. Iran has responded by scaling back its commitments, although it says it wants the pact to survive.

The nuclear dispute has been at the heart of an escalation between Washington and Tehran which blew up into military confrontation in recent weeks.

The 190-member NPT bans signatories other than the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France from acquiring nuclear weapons, in return for allowing them to pursue peaceful nuclear programs for power generation, overseen by the United Nations.

A steady escalation over Iran's nuclear plans flared into tit-for-tat military action this month, with Trump ordering a drone strike that killed a top Iranian general, prompting Iran to fire missiles at US targets in Iraq. During a state of alert, Iran shot down a Ukrainian airliner in error.

Amid that escalation – one of the biggest since Iran's 1979 revolution – Tehran has faced mounting pressure from European states which say they want to save the 2015 nuclear deal. They have also indicated a readiness to back Trump's call for a broader deal with Iran that goes beyond its nuclear plans.

"Despite the ill will that we see from some European countries the door of negotiations with them has not been closed and the ball is in the court of these countries," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said.

But he also told a news conference: "I don't think Iran is ready to negotiate under the conditions they have in mind."

Since Washington withdrew from the deal, Trump began a policy of "maximum pressure", saying a broader deal should be negotiated on nuclear issues, Iran's missile program and Iranian activities in the Middle East.

US sanctions have crippled Iran's economy, slashing its oil exports. Iran has long said it would not negotiate with Washington while sanctions are in place.

Tehran has repeatedly held talks with European officials to find ways to keep the nuclear agreement alive, but has blamed the Europeans for failing to guarantee economic benefits that Iran was meant to receive in return for curbing nuclear work.

"The European powers' claims about Iran violating the deal are unfounded," Mousavi said. "Whether Iran will further decrease its nuclear commitments will depend on other parties and whether Iran's interests are secured under the deal."

Iran has been stepping away from its commitments to the 2015 nuclear deal, saying that the other parties were reneging on their obligations. Its steps have included scrapping limits on uranium enrichment, a process that can make material for warheads although Tehran says that has never been its goal.

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"We are in charge of maintaining security of the Strait and we rescued the crew of those attacked tankers in the shortest possible time ... US Secretary of State [Mike] Pompeo's accusations towards Iran is alarming," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said.

The US military released a video late on Thursday that it said showed troops from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps removing an unexploded mine from the side of one of the targeted vessels, the Japanese-owned oil tanker Kokuka Courageous.

The US military's Central Command also released photographs showing the apparent mine, which attaches to the side of a ship magnetically, before it was removed later in the day.

Iran has denied being involved in the attack, calling it an "unfounded claim" in the United States' "Iranophobic campaign."

Meanwhile, the UK said it was working on the basis that Iran is responsible for the attacks, and warned Iran that these actions were "deeply unwise," Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said.

"This is deeply worrying and comes at a time of already huge tension. I have been in contact with Pompeo and, while we will be making our own assessment soberly and carefully, our starting point is obviously to believe our US allies," Hunt said in a statement.

"We are taking this extremely seriously and my message to Iran is that if they have been involved it is a deeply unwise escalation which poses a real danger to the prospects of peace and stability in the region," he added.

Saudi Arabia also agreed with the American assessment that Iran was behind the suspected attacks, Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir said.

"We have no reason to disagree with the [US] secretary of state. We agree with him," Jubeir told CNN. "Iran has a history of doing this."

Saudi Arabia also said early Friday that its military intercepted five drones launched by Iran-backed Yemen's Houthi rebels targeting the kingdom, including the Abha regional airport. The kingdom said a similar attack Wednesday on the Abha airport wounded 26 people.

The United Arab Emirates' Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash called the alleged attacks in the Gulf of Oman a "major and dangerous escalation" that requires the international community to scramble to protect regional stability and security.

"Wisdom and collective responsibility are needed to prevent more escalation," Gargash said in a Twitter post.

Egypt also condemned any acts that undermine the safety of waterways in the Gulf region, its foreign ministry said, adding that Cairo was "following with concern" the news of the attack.

Qatar called for an international investigation into the suspected attacks.

A foreign ministry statement carried on state news agency QNA condemned what it called acts of destruction "regardless of who is behind them" and warned against tampering with the security of the Gulf and broader region.

It urged all parties to show restraint and stop escalations.

The United Nations warned that the world cannot afford "a major confrontation in the Gulf."

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council: "I strongly condemn any attack against civilians. Facts must be established and responsibilities clarified."

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