US Vice President Vance calls Israel's parliament vote on West Bank annexation an 'insult'

US Vice President JD Vance criticised on Thursday a symbolic vote in Israel's parliament the previous day about the annexation of the occupied West Bank, saying it amounted to an "insult" and went against the Trump administration policies.

Hard-liners in the Israeli parliament had narrowly passed a preliminary vote in support of annexing the West Bank — an apparent attempt to embarrass Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while Vance was still in the country.

The bill, which required only a simple majority of lawmakers present in the house on Wednesday, passed with a 25-24 vote. But it was unlikely to pass multiple rounds of voting to become law or win a majority in the 120-seat parliament. Netanyahu, who is opposed to it, also has tools to delay or defeat it.

More than a dozen Muslim and Arab states condemned on Thursday a pair of Israeli bills calling for the annexation of the occupied West Bank, in a joint statement reported by the Saudi state news agency.

The 14 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan and Turkey, as well as the Arab League and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, said they "condemn in the strongest terms" the bills, which they called "a blatant violation of international law."

Vance spoke after US 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.

On the tarmac of Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport before departing Israel, Vance also unveiled new details about US plans for Gaza, saying he expected reconstruction to begin soon in some "Hamas-free" areas of the territory. But he warned that rebuilding the territory after a devastating two-year war could take years.

"The hope is to rebuild Rafah over the next two to three years and theoretically you could have half a million people live (there)," he said, speaking of the strip's southernmost city.

That would account for about a quarter of Gaza's population of roughly 2 million, 90% of whom were displaced from their homes during the war. Out of every 10 buildings that stood in Gaza prewar, eight are either damaged or flattened. An estimated cost of rebuilding Gaza is about $53 billion, according to the World Bank, the UN and the European Union.

Vance said that if the Knesset's vote was a "political stunt, then it is a very stupid political stunt."

"I personally take some insult to it," Vance said. "The policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel."

The deputy Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, Majed Bamya, told the UN Security Council on Thursday that Palestinians "appreciate the clear message" the Trump administration has sent in opposition to annexation.

Netanyahu is struggling to stave off early elections as cracks between factions in the right-wing parties, some of whom were upset over the ceasefire and the security sacrifices it required of Israel, grow more apparent.

While many members of Netanyahu's coalition, including his Likud Party, support annexation, they have backed off those calls since US President Donald Trump said last month that he opposes such a move.

The Palestinians seek the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war, for a future independent state. Overnight, residents reported almost constant heavy gunfire and tank shelling in eastern areas of Khan Younis in southern Gaza and also east of Gaza City in the north of the Palestinian enclave.

Gaza health authorities said Israeli drone fire killed one Palestinian in southern Gaza.

"Gunfire and explosions almost didn't stop until the morning, my three children woke up and asked me if the war had come back," said Mohammad Abu Mansour, 40, a farmer living in central Gaza Strip. "When is this all going to end and we regain our normal lives without fears?" he said via a chat app.

Agencies