Israel’s West Bank annexation moves threatening Gaza peace deal, says Marco Rubio – Middle East live | Israel

WE Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marco Rubiowarned Israel against annexation on Wednesday West BankSaying that the steps taken by the parliament and the violence committed by the settlers pose a threat Gaza to agree.

Israeli lawmakers voted on Wednesday on two bills regarding the annexation of the occupied West Bank, just a week after President Donald Trump A deal has been reached aimed at ending two years of Israeli aggression Gaza Strip this was retaliation Hamas attack.

Rubio said of annexation as he boarded his plane for a visit to Israel: “I think the President has made it clear that this is not something we can support right now.” Annexation moves “threaten the peace agreement,” he told reporters.

According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), Rubio added:

They are a democracy, they will get their votes and people will take these positions. But right now it’s something that we think could be counterproductive.

Asked about increasing violence against extremist Israeli settlers Palestinians On the West Bank, Rubio said:

We worry about anything that threatens to destabilize what we’re working on.

But Rubio – the latest high-ranking person WE Visitor to Israel after the vice president J.D. Vance – He expressed general optimism about preserving Trump’s Gaza agreement. Rubio’s statement is as follows:

There will be threats every day but I actually think we are ahead of schedule in terms of putting them together and it’s a good sign that we’ve made it through this weekend.

The United States is Israel’s primary military and diplomatic backer, and Rubio until recently had stayed away from criticizing annexation moves championed by the prime minister’s far-right allies. Benjamin Netanyahu.

But a team Arab and Islamic statesIsrael, to which the US resorts to provide troops and money to the stabilization force in Gaza, warned against the annexation of the West Bank under the leadership of moderate rivals of Hamas. Palestinian AuthorityIt was a red line.

In other developments:

• The UN top court found that Israel must allow aid to Gaza and that its restrictions on doing so over the past two years violated Israel’s obligations. The stinging advisory opinion by the international court of justice in The Hague also said Israel had a duty not to prevent UN agencies from providing aid, including the beleaguered UN Palestine aid agency Unrwa, which has been banned from entering the region since January.

• On the second day of a US diplomatic push aimed at bolstering the fragile Gaza ceasefire, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed as “nonsense” claims that his country is a state under Washington’s protectorate. Even though the United States supplies an estimated 68% of Israel’s foreign-sourced weapons, Netanyahu said Wednesday when asked whether Israel owes Washington money: “I want to be very clear. One week they say Israel controls the United States. A week later they say the United States controls Israel. This is nonsense.”

• Israel’s supreme court will hear on Thursday a petition submitted by an organization representing international media organizations in Israel and the Palestinian territories, demanding independent access for journalists to Gaza. Since the Gaza war began in October 2023, Israeli authorities have prevented foreign journalists from entering the territory and have only allowed in a handful of journalists on tightly controlled visits alongside their soldiers.

• More than two dozen Democratic lawmakers have called on U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the U.S. ambassador to Israel to help free 16-year-old Palestinian-American Mohammed Ibrahim, who has been held in Israeli military custody for nearly eight months. Ibrahim, a dual Palestinian-American teenager from Florida, was arrested in a raid on his family’s West Bank home in February when he was 15 years old.