WASHINGTON

US President Donald Trump promised Muslim and Arab leaders during a meeting Tuesday that he would not allow Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to annex the occupied West Bank, according to a report.

Six people familiar with the discussion told American news website Politico that Trump assured the leaders Israel would not be allowed to absorb the West Bank, which remains under the governance of the Palestinian Authority.

Two of the sources were quoted as saying that the US president was “firm” on the issue, while others said his team presented a white paper laying out the administration’s plan to end Israel’s nearly two-year war on Gaza, including proposals on governance and postwar security.

Another source said that despite the president’s pledge, “a cease-fire to end Israel’s nearly two-year war against Hamas was nowhere close to fruition.”

The White House did not immediately comment on the report.

Trump described the sit-down with eight Arab and Muslim countries at the UN headquarters as his “most important” meeting of the day, saying they were working to “end something that should have probably never started.”

Attending the session were the leaders of Türkiye, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan.

After the meeting, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters it was “very productive and positive” and said he was “satisfied” with the talks. Trump also hailed the gathering as a “very successful meeting with all of the big players, except for Israel.”

“I think we can work something out on Gaza. It was a very good meeting with very great leaders,” he told reporters after the meeting.

- West Bank occupation, violence

Israel has killed more than 65,000 Palestinians in a brutal offensive in Gaza following a cross-border attack by Hamas on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave, which is facing famine.

Since October 2023, at least 1,042 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the West Bank by Israeli forces and illegal settlers, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

In recent years, Israel has greenlit more and more settlements in the West Bank, with critics charging the developments effectively carve up the Palestinian territory, making a contiguous Palestinian state all but impossible.

Assaults and intimidation of West Bank Palestinians by illegal Israeli settlers have also become more and more common, with Israeli officials and police turning a blind eye to the violence, at best.