Trump Cautions Israel: Potential Risks of West Bank Annexation Highlighted

Share this @internewscast.com

United States President Donald Trump has issued a stark warning to Israel over annexing the West Bank in an interview, as visiting secretary of state Marco Rubio voiced confidence that a US-backed ceasefire in Gaza would hold.

Trump’s remarks made to Time Magazine by telephone on 15 October — just days after the Gaza truce plan he spearheaded took effect — but were only published on Thursday.

“It won’t happen,” Trump said when asked about calls in Israel to annex the West Bank, the Palestinian territory, which Israel has occupied since the Six-Day War in 1967.

“It won’t happen because I gave my word to the Arab countries,” he said.

“If Israel were to pursue that action, it would risk losing all backing from the United States,” warned a US official.

Israeli leaders advanced two bills paving the way for West Bank annexation earlier this week, leading to condemnation from US vice president JD Vance, who was in Israel at the time and who echoed Trump’s comments.

When asked if he was concerned by the votes, Trump told reporters at the White House: “Don’t worry about the West Bank. Israel’s not going to do anything with the West Bank.”

The United States stands as Israel’s primary ally, offering crucial military and diplomatic support.

LISTEN TO

Before his visit to Israel, Rubio cautioned that proposed annexation plans posed a “threat” to the delicate ceasefire currently in place in Gaza. He is one of many high-ranking US officials who have recently visited the region.

But Rubio expressed confidence in the truce after meeting with Netanyahu on Thursday.

“We feel confident and positive about the progress that’s being made. We’re clear-eyed about the challenges, too,” Rubio said, just hours after Vance wrapped up his own three-day visit.

As he ended his trip, Vance hit out at the votes in Israel’s parliament in favour of examining two annexation bills, which will now be brought forward for further readings.

“If it was a political stunt, it was a very stupid political stunt, and I personally take some insult to it,” Vance said.

“Israel will not be annexing the West Bank,” a US official stated firmly. “The policy under the Trump administration has been that the West Bank remains unannexed by Israel, and this policy will continue.”

Netanyahu, standing next to Rubio after their meeting, was quick to avoid any suggestion of tension with the US, calling the US secretary of state an “extraordinary friend of Israel” and saying the back-to-back visits were part of a “circle of trust and partnership”.

Violence has surged in the West Bank since the war escalated in Gaza after Hamas’s attack on 7 October 2023.

According to the Ramallah-based Palestinian health ministry, Israeli troops and settlers have killed nearly 1,000 Palestinians, including militants and civilians, since October 2023.

Over the same period, at least 43 Israelis, including members of the security forces, have died in Palestinian attacks or Israeli operations, official figures show.

A fragile truce

The Gaza truce faced its toughest test on Sunday, when Israeli forces launched strikes in Gaza after two soldiers were killed. The strikes killed at least 45 Palestinians, according to the health ministry in Gaza.

Gaza’s Nasser Hospital said one person was killed in an Israeli drone strike on Thursday in the Khan Younis area.

During his visit, Vance warned disarming Hamas and rebuilding Gaza would be a “very, very tough task”.

Under Trump’s 20-point peace plan, an international security force drawn from Arab and Muslim allies would oversee Gaza’s transition as Israeli troops withdraw.

Delegations from Hamas and its rival Fatah, meanwhile, met in Egypt to discuss post-war arrangements for Gaza, Egypt’s state-linked Al-Qahera News reported.

In Gaza, civilians displaced by two years of war continued to struggle.

“We were afraid of dying during the war, and now we’re afraid of living after it,” said Maher Abu Wafah, 42.

“Our lives and our children’s future are slipping away before our eyes. We just want a stable life.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) said there had been little improvement in the amount of aid going into Gaza since the ceasefire took hold — and no observable reduction in hunger.

“The situation still remains catastrophic because what’s entering is not enough,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters, lamenting “there is no dent in hunger because there is not enough food”.