‘The UAE has not yet seen a clear framework for the stabilization force, and under such circumstances, it is unlikely to participate,’ said Anwar Gargash, the UAE Presidential Advisor.
Turkish charities operating in the southern Gaza Strip, October 23, 2025(photo credit: ABED RAHIM KHATIB/FLASH90)ByAMICHAI STEINUpdated: The United Arab Emirates is concerned about Qatar and Turkey playing a central role in the proposed plan to rebuild the Gaza Strip.
In general, the UAE views Doha and Ankara as “Hamas enablers. These states will make it possible for the terrorist organization to continue existing,” a source familiar with its stance told The Jerusalem Post.
“There are interested parties affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood who are currently embedding themselves in key positions in the Gaza reconstruction plan,” the source said.
This concern led the UAE to officially announce this week that it will not take part in the International Stabilization Force (ISF) expected to deploy in Gaza.
“The UAE has not yet seen a clear framework for the stabilization force, and under such circumstances, it is unlikely to participate,” Dr. Anwar Mohammed Gargash, an adviser to the UAE’s presidency, said at a summit in Abu Dhabi.
A UAE AID tent stands in front of a collapsed building at Saftawi street in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on February 5, 2025 (credit: OMAR AL-QATTAA/AFP via Getty Images)
The Trump administration said it hoped that this task force would enter Gaza “very soon,” and is currently working on a United Nations Security Council resolution to authorize its deployment.
Day after in Gaza
Over the past two years, the UAE has been involved in discussions regarding “the day after” in Gaza. Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer (Likud) has visited the UAE several times, and the idea of a multinational force stationed in Gaza was developed in part through talks among senior Israeli, US, and Emirati officials.
While the UAE still intends to partake in post-war efforts in Gaza, its role will focus more on the humanitarian aspect.
“The Emirates will focus on humanitarian aid, reconstruction, and supporting the establishment of effective governance,” one source said.
He added that the UAE may assist the ISF logistically, saying that “despite the concerns over the involvement of Hamas-aligned actors, the goal in the UAE is to help create something fresh in Gaza – to jump-start a different chapter there.”
Meanwhile, discussions regarding the 200 Hamas terrorists currently in Rafah are ongoing. While the US and Israel agree on the idea of exiling them if they lay down their arms, Hamas has conveyed to mediators that it currently rejects this proposal.
“Hamas fears setting a precedent where Israel would grant full immunity only to those who disarm and agree to exile. That’s not what was agreed upon in [US President Donald] Trump’s plan,” a source familiar with the details told the Post.
Despite these challenges and Israel’s public refusal to allow safe passage for armed terrorists into Hamas-controlled territory, even if they do disarm, the US administration believes a solution will soon be reached.
“This issue threatens the ceasefire – and that’s exactly how the Trump administration sees it. It will do everything possible to resolve this,” said another source familiar with the talks.
Israel is preparing for the possibility that the ceasefire agreement might collapse.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir told cabinet ministers in a meeting last Thursday that the defense establishment is preparing for other options in case the Trump plan fails. Alternatives will be presented to the political leadership and ministers soon.
Amid tensions with Israel and the US, Iran is ramping up diplomacy to build a “multipolar order,” strengthening ties with Iraq, the UAE, and Uzbekistan to safeguard its regional influence.
PROTESTERS, MOSTLY Houthi supporters, sit along an Iranian flag at a demonstration in support of Palestinians and Iran, in Sanaa last week. Aggression by proxies such as the Houthis must be treated as direct Iranian attacks, says the writer.(photo credit: KHALED ABDULLAH/REUTERS)BySETH J. FRANTZMANUpdated: Iran is working the phones of diplomacy. Over the past days, Iranian state media have described a flurry of activity on the diplomatic front. This comes as Iran is also concerned about tensions with Israel and is weighing whether it will re-enter talks with the US. This is part of a larger agenda.
Advisor to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ali Akbar Velayati, said that the “era of the United States’ dominance has come to an end and the world is now transitioning from a unipolar to a multipolar and equitable order,” Iranian state media noted.
What is Iran’s foreign ministry doing? “Iraq’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammed Hussein Mohammed Bahr Al Uloom has commanded the recent remarks by Esmaeil Baqaei, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, regarding the sixth parliamentary elections in the Arab country,” Iran’s state media IRNA said.
The Islamic Republic views ties positively and has praised the political and electoral atmosphere in Iraq. “Bahr Al Uloom added that Baqaei also expressed hope that the Iraqi people’s participation in the electoral process will help outline the political future of the country,” IRNA added.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei attends a meeting with students in Tehran, Iran, November 3, 2025 (credit: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS)
Iran is also improving ties with Uzbekistan. “Iran and Uzbekistan have reached new agreements to expand cooperation and investment in the mining and mineral industries, marking a significant step toward strengthening bilateral economic relations,” IRNA noted.
This comes days after US President Donald Trump hosted Central Asian countries and also after Kazakhstan announced it would join the Abraham Accords. Iran also wants to maintain its position in Central Asia. “During his visit to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Iran’s Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Mohammad Atabak held talks with Uzbekistan’s Minister of Mining and Geology, Islamov Bobur Farxodovich, and Minister of Investment, Industry and Trade, Laziz Kudratov, on Tuesday,” IRNA noted.
“The Iranian delegation, headed by Minister Atabak, arrived in Tashkent on November 9. He is accompanied by senior officials from Iran’s industrial and mining sectors.”
The ambassadors of Iran and Russia in Baghdad have discussed the latest developments in Iraq ahead of the country’s parliamentary elections, emphasizing the importance of the vote for Iraq’s stability and development.
Meanwhile, Iranian Ambassador Mohammad Kazem Al Sadegh and Russian Ambassador Elbrus Kutrashev exchanged views on Iraq’s situation during the election period, the Iranian media said. “Both diplomats underlined that the elections could play a vital role in strengthening stability and advancing development in the country.
Tehran deepens diplomatic ties with Russia and the UAE
During the meeting, Al Sadegh thanked Russia for its positions and support for the Islamic Republic of Iran regarding Resolution 2231 and stressed the need for constructive cooperation between the two countries at the bilateral and international levels.”
At the same time, in the UAE, Al-Ain media said that the UAE’s Dr. Anwar Mohammed Gargash, Diplomatic Advisor to the President of the UAE, “met on Tuesday with Saeed Khatibzadeh, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister and Head of the Center for Political and International Studies.”
The information follows an Emirates News Agency report “that the meeting discussed relations between the United Arab Emirates and Iran and ways to strengthen them. The meeting also reviewed regional and international developments and issues of common interest and exchanged views on them.”
Al-Ain added that “Dr. Anwar Gargash stressed the priority of dealing with regional developments through dialogue and diplomacy in a way that achieves the stability and prosperity that the countries and peoples of the region aspire to. The meeting comes on the sidelines of the Iranian official’s participation in the twelfth edition of the ‘Abu Dhabi Strategic Forum’ organized by the Emirates Policy Center.”
Official denies Israel has agreed to plan that would see Hamas fighters exiled to third country; US said to stress to Jerusalem that issue cannot derail Trump’s overall peace plan
IDF troops operate on the eastern side of the Yellow Line in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, in a handout photo issued on November 9, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
US President Donald Trump’s senior adviser Jared Kushner and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been striving to find a solution to the standoff over the 100-200 Hamas terrorists holed up in Rafah tunnels on the Israeli side of the Yellow Line, but remain at an impasse.
An Israeli official told The Times of Israel on Tuesday evening that “there is no agreed-upon solution regarding the terrorists in Rafah.”
According to a Channel 12 news report on Tuesday, Israel put forth a plan under which it would agree to let the Hamas members emerge, provided they surrender their weapons and pledge not to return to terrorism.
The plan would see the operatives disarm “according to [US President Donald] Trump’s instructions,” the TV network said, with Israel agreeing not to target them as they exit the tunnels.
The Kan public broadcaster, however, reported Tuesday that while Kushner pushed Netanyahu to allow the Hamas members to pass unarmed to the western side of Gaza, Israel refused to agree to such a proposal.
According to Kan, Kushner impressed on Netanyahu the grave importance to Trump in resolving this issue and allowing the overall peace plan to move forward, and that Washington would not accept an outcome in which Israel kills the Hamas combatants.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (second from right) and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer (right) meet with top White House adviser Jared Kushner (second from left) and US adviser Aryeh Lightstone (left) meet in Jerusalem on November 10, 2025. (Haim Zach/GPO)
Meanwhile, the Ynet news site, citing a member of the security cabinet, said that Netanyahu and Kushner had agreed to a deal that would see the Hamas members in question exiled to a third country.
However, the plan is not moving forward because no country has agreed to take them in, according to the report. An Israeli official, however, denied that there was any such deal in place to exile the Hamas fighters.
For weeks, Netanyahu’s office has asserted that it would not grant safe passage to the holed-up Hamas fighters. US officials have reportedly told Israel that the standoff should not overshadow the larger challenge of dealing with an estimated 20,000 armed operatives still active in Hamas-controlled areas.
Turkey is said to be playing a central mediating role in talks coordinated through Washington. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a meeting on Monday in Washington with visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan “to discuss the ceasefire in Gaza and next steps to ensure stability in the region.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks with Maj. Gen. Yaki Dolf as he visits the US-Israel Civil-Military Coordination Center in Israel, October 24, 2025. (Fadel Senna/Pool Photo via AP)
Multiple reports in recent days have indicated that the return on Sunday of the remains of Hadar Goldin — an Israeli soldier who was killed in 2014 and whose body was held in Gaza for 11 years — was tied to the negotiations over the evacuation of the trapped Hamas operatives, though there have been no official comments on the matter.
Meanwhile, the Politico news site on Tuesday published a series of documents that have been circulated at the US-led Gaza ceasefire monitoring hub that the news site claimed reveal doubts in Washington about the ability to maintain the ceasefire.
A slide deck obtained by Politico includes a question mark between phases one and two of the ceasefire, in what the site suggested underscores US uncertainty about the prospects of establishing an International Stabilization Force and disarming Hamas.
A State Department spokesperson, however, dismissed the story’s claims, saying it “demonstrates a complete ignorance of the workings of the Gaza effort. Everyone wants to be a part of President Trump’s historic Middle East peace effort.”
“From the moment President Trump announced his 20 Point Plan, there has been an avalanche of ideas, suggestions and proposals from dozens of countries and NGOs on an array of issues,” the spokesperson asserted. “We couldn’t possibly comment on the contents of the thousands of ideas and proposals that may or may not have been reviewed. The Trump administration will continue to uphold the ceasefire and effectively implement President Trump’s 20 Point Plan.”
A boy pulls a donkey cart laden with containers carrying potable water, as other Palestinian children help push it along a road in the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on November 10, 2025. (Eyad Baba / AFP)
The State Department also flatly denied a Tuesday report in the Saudi al-Hadath network that Yasser Abu Shabab, who heads an anti-Hamas militia in Gaza, recently held a secret meeting with Kushner at the US-led Gaza ceasefire monitoring hub in Kiryat Gat, dismissing it as “fake news.”
The report had claimed that the pair discussed Abu Shabab’s militia potentially playing a role in securing the exit of Hamas fighters currently holed up on the Israeli side of the Yellow Line in Rafah.
No exact date for the meeting was given in the report. Kushner arrived in Israel on Monday.
Abu Shabab’s militia was formed about six months ago and is based in eastern Rafah — in territory under IDF control — and provides patronage to several thousand Gazan residents with Israeli military and economic assistance. The militia presents itself as fighting Hamas and seeking to overthrow it.
The unconfirmed report also claimed that Abu Shabab has representatives present daily at the US-led Civil-Military Coordination Center in Kiryat Gat.
