Trump says he "will not allow" Netanyahu to annex the West Bank

2025-09-26 07:51:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

US President Donald Trump has said he will not allow Benjamin Netanyahu to annex the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Speaking ahead of the Israeli prime minister's address to the UN General Assembly on Friday, the US president told reporters in the Oval Office: "I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank... That will not happen."

Trump, who will meet with Netanyahu on Monday, also said a deal on Gaza was "very close."

Israel is facing growing global pressure to end the war in Gaza and the occupation of the West Bank, as a wave of Western nations formally recognize an independent Palestinian state. Far-right Israelis see annexation as a way to block that prospect.

Ultranationalists in Netanyahu's ruling coalition have repeated calls for Israel to fully annex the West Bank, part of the Palestinian territories.

The UK and Germany say they have warned Israel against annexation, while UN Secretary-General António Guterres said at the UN on Monday that it would be "morally, legally and politically intolerable".

On Thursday, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he had spoken with Netanyahu, as well as other Middle Eastern leaders.

"We are getting very close to reaching a deal on Gaza, and perhaps even peace," Trump said.

Addressing the UN General Assembly via video link on Thursday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he was ready to work with world leaders to implement a peace plan for Israel and the Palestinians announced by France on Monday.

Abbas, 89, was barred by the US from traveling to New York to appear in person.

He thanked those countries that had recently recognized a Palestinian state in a wave of statements that began with Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and Portugal on Sunday, followed by France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, San Marino, Andorra and Denmark.

The US is currently opposed to recognizing Palestine, saying such a move is a reward for Hamas.

"Hamas will have no role to play in governance," Abbas said in his speech. He also called for a Palestinian state to take "full responsibility" for the Gaza Strip after an Israeli withdrawal and connect it to the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Trump met at the United Nations on Tuesday with leaders of major Arab and Muslim countries, who warned him of the consequences if Israel were to proceed with annexation.

"I think the US president understands very well the risks and dangers of annexation in the West Bank," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan told reporters.

On Wednesday morning, Israel closed the only border crossing between the Israeli-occupied West Bank and neighboring Jordan, preventing more than two million Palestinians from entering the outside world.

The closure came days after two Israeli soldiers were shot dead near the crossing by a Jordanian gunman, who was killed at the scene.

In Gaza, more than 80 Palestinians, including women and children, were killed by Israeli fire on Wednesday, most of them in Gaza City, local hospitals said.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 65,419 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since then, according to the Hama-run territory's health ministry, including more than 18,000 children.

In August, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a UN-backed body, said more than half a million people across Gaza were facing “catastrophic” conditions characterized by “hunger, poverty and death.” Netanyahu has repeatedly denied that famine is occurring in Gaza.

A United Nations investigative commission found that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, in a report that the Israeli Foreign Ministry categorically rejected as "distorted and false."

Israel is under increasing pressure to end the war and occupation.

In addition to more countries recognizing the Palestinian state, the European Commission has unveiled plans to restrict trade with Israel and impose sanctions on extremist ministers in its government, which - if approved - would be the EU's toughest response to the war in Gaza.

This week, Microsoft cut off some services to an Israeli Defense Ministry unit after an investigation revealed that its technology had been used to conduct mass surveillance on people in Gaza.

But Netanyahu has called for Israel to embrace increased self-sufficiency./ CNA, translated by BBC