Israel's annexation of West Bank threatens Gaza peace — US top diplomat

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has warned Israel against annexing the West Bank, saying steps taken by the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) and settler violence threatened a Gaza peace deal, Al Arabiya reports.

On October 22, Israeli lawmakers voted to advance two bills on annexing the occupied West Bank, barely a week after President Donald Trump pushed through a deal aimed at ending a two-year Israeli war in the Gaza Strip.

“I think the president’s made clear that’s not something we can be supportive of right now,” Rubio said of annexation as he boarded his plane for a visit to Israel.

Annexation moves are “threatening for the peace deal,” he told reporters.

Asked about increased violence by extremist Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank, Rubio said: “We’re concerned about anything that threatens to destabilize what we’ve worked on.”

The United States remains Israel’s primary military and diplomatic ally, and Rubio has until recently avoided openly criticising annexation efforts pushed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners.

However, several Arab and Islamic states, which the United States is courting to provide troops and money for a stabilisation force in Gaza, have warned that annexation of the West Bank was a red line.

By Khagan Isayev