The UN Security Council has approved a US plan for Gaza that authorises an international stabilisation force to provide security in the devastated territory.
The plan also envisions a possible future path to an independent Palestinian state.
Russia, which had circulated a rival resolution, abstained along with China on the 13-0 vote in New York this morning.
The US and other countries had hoped Moscow would not use its veto power on the United Nations' most powerful body to block the resolution's adoption.
The vote was a crucial next step for the fragile ceasefire and efforts to outline Gaza's future following two years of war between Israel and Hamas.
Arab and other Muslim countries that expressed interest in providing troops for an international force had signalled that Security Council authorisation was essential for their participation.
Hamas rejects resolution, Israel opposed to Palestinian state
The resolution has proved controversial in Israel because it references a future possibility of statehood for the Palestinians.
The resolution's text says "conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood" once the Palestinian Authority has carried out a reform program and Gaza's redevelopment has advanced.
"The United States will establish a dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians to agree on a political horizon for peaceful and prosperous coexistence," it says.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel remained opposed to a Palestinian state.
He pledged to demilitarise Gaza "the easy way or the hard way".
Palestinian militant group Hamas rejected the resolution, saying it failed to meet Palestinians' rights and demands and sought to impose an international trusteeship on the enclave that Palestinians and resistance factions opposed.
"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 favour of the occupation," the group said.
The Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West Bank, had earlier endorsed the text of the proposal.
Resolution endorses Trump ceasefire plan
The US resolution endorses President Donald Trump's 20-point ceasefire plan, which calls for a yet-to-be-established Board of Peace as a transitional authority that Mr Trump would head.
It also authorises the stabilisation force and gives it a wide mandate, including overseeing the borders, providing security and demilitarising the territory.
Authorisation for the board and force is set to expire at the end of 2027.
US ambassador Mike Waltz called the resolution "historic and constructive," saying it started a new course in the Middle East.
"Today's resolution represents another significant step towards a stable Gaza that will be able to prosper and an environment that will allow Israel to live in security," he said.
He stressed that the resolution was "just the beginning."
Stronger language on Palestinian state
During nearly two weeks of negotiations on the US resolution, Arab nations and the Palestinians pressed the United States to strengthen the original weak language about Palestinian self-determination.
The US revised it to specify that after the Palestinian Authority — which now governs parts of the West Bank — made reforms and after redevelopment of the devastated Gaza Strip advanced, "the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood".
"The United States will establish a dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians to agree on a political horizon for peaceful and prosperous coexistence," it added.
That language angered Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had vowed to oppose any attempt to establish a Palestinian state.
He has long asserted that creating a Palestinian state would reward Hamas and eventually lead to an even larger Hamas-run state on Israel's borders.
A key to the resolution's adoption was support from Arab and Muslim nations pushing for a ceasefire and potentially contributing to the international force.
The US mission to the United Nations distributed a joint statement on Friday with Qatar, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Jordan and Türkiye calling for "swift adoption" of the US proposal.
AP/ABC
