Rubio warns against West Bank annexation after Israel's parliament advances move

The US Secretary of State says such a step would threaten Washington's plan to end the conflict in Gaza.

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"That's not something we can be supportive of right now," Marco Rubio said before leaving for Israel as part of US efforts to shore up a fragile ceasefire deal.

In an apparent attempt to embarrass Israel's prime minister, far-right politicians took the symbolic step of giving preliminary approval to a bill granting Israel authority to annex the West Bank.

At the end of his own trip to Israel, US Vice-President JD Vance said: "If it was a political stunt, it was a very stupid political stunt and I personally take some insult."

"The West Bank is not going to be annexed by Israel. The policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel," he told reporters at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport on Thursday.