International trusteeship: an outside administration for a transition
An international or regional body governs Gaza (or all the territories) for a set period, providing security and services while local institutions are rebuilt, before handing over to Palestinian self-government.
What happens to Israeli Jews
Security without Israeli soldiers governing Palestinians; but Israel must trust foreign forces with its border, after UN forces in Lebanon failed to stop Hezbollah's build-up.
What happens to Palestinians
Relief from both Israeli military rule and Hamas; but another period under outsiders, after British trusteeship in the Mandate years ended in their dispossession.
What it requires
- A mandate: a UN Security Council resolution or an agreement both sides accept
- Countries willing to send troops and administrators, and to stay when attacked
- Hamas disarmed or excluded, without the administration becoming Israel's proxy
- A clear end point, or it becomes an occupation under another flag
Who supports it
An old idea: in March 1948 the United States briefly proposed a temporary UN trusteeship for all of Palestine instead of partition, and dropped it within weeks ⚠. Since the 2023 war it has returned for Gaza in several forms, from Arab-led stabilisation forces to the transitional 'Board of Peace' in the October 2025 plan (see 'gaza-plan-2025'). No Israeli or Palestinian party runs on an open-ended trusteeship; each supports versions that keep its own role.
What history says
- UN transitional administrations in Kosovo (from 1999) and East Timor (1999–2002), the second ending in independence
- The League of Nations mandate system itself, including Palestine (1922–48)
- UNIFIL in southern Lebanon since 1978, a cautionary case for Israel
The hard questions
- Who would send soldiers to Gaza and keep them there when they are shot at?
- What stops a trusteeship from becoming permanent, or from collapsing the first time it's tested?
- Can outsiders build Palestinian institutions that Palestinians will see as their own?