Trump confirms he will block Israel from annexing West Bank

“I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank. I will not allow it. It’s not going to happen," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday, publicly reiterating a pledge he made to Arab leaders privately earlier this week.

Trump’s comments mark a rare escalation of public pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he expands Israel’s war in Gaza against Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group, and while Western countries such as France have said they’d recognize a Palestinian state. Netanyahu’s government has approved controversial projects in recent months to expand Israeli settlements in the West Bank on tracts of land that Palestinians seek for statehood.

A spokesman for the Israeli prime minister’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump’s message comes as he attempts to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas that could pave the way to the rebuilding of Gaza.

The White House has proposed a postwar plan that would include the former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair serving as interim administrator of Gaza and a potential Arab-led security force, according to Arab officials and a senior U.S. official familiar with the plans. Blair, the officials added, would oversee a body known as the Gaza International Transitional Authority, or Gita, which could temporarily control the enclave after the conflict ends.

The U.S. official said that Netanyahu isn’t wholly sold on the plan, as questions remain about how to staff a potential Arab-led security force and whether Gita’s authorities could interfere with Israel’s Gaza policy.

Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy, briefed Trump’s peace proposals to Netanyahu in New York City on Thursday. The U.S. aims to get Israel’s support for the plan either before or during Netanyahu’s expected visit to the White House to meet with Trump on Monday.

Trump and Witkoff presented the broad peace proposals to Arab leaders during a sideline meeting at the United Nations annual gathering of world leaders in New York this week. Trump also told officials during that discussion that he would prevent Israel from annexing the West Bank.

“We spoke with Bibi Netanyahu today, and we spoke to all the leaders in the Middle East who were great people, and we’re getting pretty close to having a deal on Gaza," Trump told reporters Thursday.

The Trump-Netanyahu relationship has come under scrutiny after Netanyahu has repeatedly and openly defied the American leader’s wishes. Trump wanted a deal to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program, but Israel launched attacks on the country that the U.S. would later join. And Israel struck Hamas political representatives in Doha, the capital of Qatar, a U.S. ally, without providing Washington meaningful advance notice, administration officials said.

Arab mediators and families of Israeli hostages say that Netanyahu has repeatedly sabotaged cease-fire negotiations. Polls in Israel show that a large majority of Israelis, including those who back Netanyahu’s right-wing government, support ending the war in exchange for the 48 remaining hostages in Gaza, including up to 20 who are believed to be alive. Netanyahu’s critics say he is prolonging the war for political survival, allegations that he denies.

France and other close U.S. Western allies announced they were recognizing a Palestinian state on the sidelines of the U.N. gathering over the sharp protests of both the U.S. and Israel. They argued such a move would serve to politically reward Hamas for its Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israel, which triggered the current war and undercut long-term prospects for a two-state solution.

Netanyahu warned Israel would respond to efforts to recognize a Palestinian state but didn’t specify what he would do. Israeli lawmakers in Netanyahu’s coalition called to annex the West Bank in response.

Netanyahu is expected to travel to Washington following his speech at the U.N. General Assembly on Friday. He said that Israel would respond to the recognition of Palestine after the meeting with Trump.

Senior Arab and European diplomats say that the U.S., Israel’s closest ally, is the only country that could constrain Netanyahu’s government. Trump recently rebuked Israel for carrying out the airstrike on Hamas operatives in Doha but signaled his approval of Israel’s moves to expand its military offensive in Gaza City, despite growing international backlash over Israel’s handling of the almost two-year-long war in Gaza.

Trump first told Arab leaders that he would pressure Netanyahu not to annex the West Bank during a closed-door meeting with them in New York on Tuesday. His latest public comments offer the starkest sign yet that the U.S. president, who has described himself as “history’s most pro-Israel U.S. president," would seek to constrain Netanyahu’s government.

Senior Arab officials have warned that any Israeli move to annex the West Bank could undermine the Abraham Accords, the 2020 breakthrough diplomatic deal brokered under the first Trump administration that saw countries including the U.A.E., Bahrain and Morocco normalize ties with Israel.

Write to Robbie Gramer at robbie.gramer@wsj.com, Alexander Ward at alex.ward@wsj.com and Summer Said at summer.said@wsj.com