Rubio Warns Israel Against West Bank Annexation, Says Moves Threaten Gaza Peace Deal

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday cautioned Israel against annexing the occupied West Bank, warning that recent parliamentary actions and a surge in settler violence risk undermining the fragile Gaza peace deal.

Israeli lawmakers voted to advance two bills aimed at annexation, less than a week after President Donald Trump brokered an agreement intended to end Israel’s two-year offensive in Gaza following a Hamas attack.

“I think the president’s made clear that’s not something we can be supportive of right now,” Rubio told reporters before departing for Israel. “Annexation moves are threatening for the peace deal.”

While acknowledging Israel’s democratic process, Rubio said the timing of such measures “might be counterproductive.”

Asked about escalating settler violence in the West Bank, he said, “We’re concerned about anything that threatens to destabilize what we’ve worked on.”

Despite the tensions, Rubio expressed optimism that the peace deal would hold. “Every day there’ll be threats to it, but I actually think we’re ahead of schedule in bringing it together, and the fact that we made it through this weekend is a good sign,” he said.

The United States remains Israel’s key military and diplomatic ally, and Rubio had previously refrained from openly criticizing annexation plans championed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right partners.

However, several Arab and Muslim nations—whose cooperation Washington seeks for a Gaza stabilization force—have warned that any move to annex the West Bank, controlled by Hamas’s rivals in the Palestinian Authority, would cross a red line.