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President Trump said on Thursday that he would not allow Israel to annex the West Bank, telling reporters that he has spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the issue.
“I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank, nope. I will not allow it. It’s not going to happen,” he said following reporting that Trump told Arab and Muslim leaders at the United Nations earlier this week about his stance on the West Bank.
“Yeah,” he said when asked if he talked to Netanyahu about it.
Trump added, “But I’m not going to allow it, whether I spoke to him or not. I did. But I’m not allowing Israel to annex the West Bank. There’s been enough, it’s time to stop now. Okay.”
He added that he spoke with Netanyahu on Thursday.
“We spoke with Bibi Netanyahu today, and we spoke to all the leaders in the Middle East, who are great people,” Trump said. “And we’re getting pretty close to having a deal on Gaza and maybe even peace.”
Earlier on Thursday, Trump indicated, while meeting with Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan, that he thinks an agreement to end the war in Gaza is close because of the progress from his meetings at the United Nations.
“We had a great meeting the other day at UNGA. I think we’re close to getting some kind of a deal done. We want to get the hostages back,” Trump said.
The president’s meeting on Gaza on Tuesday included a coalition of Arab and Muslim leaders from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, the UAE and Jordan.