US warns Israeli West Bank annexation could threaten Gaza peace deal

CAIRO – 23 October 2025: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio cautioned that Israel’s parliament moving toward annexing the West Bank could jeopardize President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace deal currently in place, Reuters reported.

Speaking to reporters before departing for Israel, Rubio stressed that the White House does not support such a vote and views it as a potential threat to peace efforts.

On Wednesday, Israel’s Knesset gave preliminary approval to a bill extending Israeli law to parts of the occupied West Bank, aimed at annexing lands that Palestinians need to establish their independent state.

The vote marks the first of four needed to pass the legislation and comes despite Trump’s recent statement that he will not allow Israel to annex the territory it took in the 1967 Middle East war.

Ceasefire in Gaza took effect on October 10, forming the first phase of Trump’s peace plan for the territory after two years of unrelenting Israeli war.

The war in Gaza has killed more than 68,000 people, displaced the majority of population, and plunged the enclave into famine.