U.S. Secretary of State Rubio in Israel to support Gaza peace plan

Marco Rubio arrives in Israel on Thursday. 23 October 2025
Reuters-Screenshot

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Israel on Thursday with the goal of implementing U.S. President Donald Trump's 20-point Gaza peace plan, according to the U.S. State Department.

Rubio's trip comes as a bill applying Israeli law to the West Bank, a move tantamount to annexation of a territory that Palestinians seek for part of a future independent state, won preliminary approval from Israeli lawmakers on Wednesday.

A bill applying Israeli law to the West Bank, a move tantamount to annexation of a territory that Palestinians seek for part of a future independent state, won preliminary approval from Israeli lawmakers on Wednesday.

Asked by reporters about the vote, Vance said: "If it was a political stunt, it is a very stupid one, and I personally take some insult to it."

Vance spoke after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that steps toward annexing the territory, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war, could endanger Trump's plan to end the Gaza war, which has yielded a shaky ceasefire so far.

"The West Bank is not going to be annexed by Israel. The policy of President Trump is that the West Bank will not be annexed. This will always be our policy," Vance said at the end of a two-day visit to Israel.

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