JERUSALEM / ISTANBUL

Israel presses the US to soften the wording of an American draft resolution that the UN Security Council is set to vote on Monday, which mentions “self-determination and the establishment of a Palestinian state,” Israeli media reported Sunday.

Tel Aviv is making “last-minute efforts to change the wording of the proposal that will be approved tomorrow in the Security Council regarding the multinational force that will deploy in the Gaza Strip,” Israel’s public broadcaster KAN said.

Aides to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior officials at the Foreign Ministry have been holding discussions with the team of US President Donald Trump and Arab leaders “to ease the language of the expected resolution,” it added.

According to the broadcaster, Israeli officials believe the Palestinian Authority will not meet the terms of Trump’s plan for establishing a Palestinian state, which requires “comprehensive reform.” Even so, they describe the draft as “dangerous” and warn that it could lead to unpredictable outcomes.

The report did not specify the format Israel seeks to see adopted.

Washington is promoting the draft resolution, which calls for deploying a multinational force in Gaza under a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that has been in effect since Oct. 10.

The text says that “conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood” after the Palestinian Authority undergoes reforms.

It also says the US will initiate dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians to reach a political horizon for peaceful coexistence, according to KAN.

The outlet said the draft specifies that the multinational force would work with Israel and Egypt to stabilize Gaza and replace Hamas governance and the presence of the Israeli army in the area.

It also envisions a trained Palestinian police force operating in Gaza to help secure the borders.

On Sunday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar joined Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir in rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Netanyahu rejects statehood

Hours before the scheduled vote, Netanyahu doubled down on his opposition to any form of Palestinian statehood.

“My opposition to the establishment of a State of Palestine has not changed. It stands and remains,” Netanyahu said at the start of Sunday’s weekly Cabinet meeting, as cited by a statement from his office.

He said Gaza “will be demilitarized, and Hamas will be dismantled.”

“I have confronted these attempts for many years, and I am doing so now against pressure from outside and from within,” he said.

Against the backdrop of the Israeli war on Gaza, several countries recognized Palestinian statehood during UN meetings in September, bringing the total to 160 of the UN’s 193 member states, according to the Palestinian Foreign Ministry.

Israel has killed more than 69,000 people, mostly women and children, in attacks in Gaza since October 2023 and reduced it to rubble.

Israel continues to occupy Palestinian territory, as well as land in Syria and Lebanon, and opposes the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state on lands occupied in 1967.