“It's not my view. The president has made it clear that we don't want to see additional flashpoints there, given everything that's going on in the region now, the difficulties in implementing the agreements made about Gaza, the tenuous situation in Lebanon, obviously now the Houthis and Saudi Arabia, and the ongoing friction and conflict with Iran,” Rubio told reporters on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday.

“The last thing this region needs is an additional flashpoint, and the last thing we think Israel needs is an additional flashpoint,” he said.

“The president really doesn't think the world right now needs a West Bank crisis,” he said, adding that Washington had communicated that position “to everyone".

The occupied West Bank has seen escalating Israeli raids and arrests since October 2023, alongside increasing settler attacks, movement restrictions and closures of entrances to Palestinian towns and villages.

Israeli settlements in occupied territory are illegal under international law, but Israel has continued expanding them despite international criticism.

Around 750,000 illegal Israeli settlers live in 156 illegal settlements and 360 settlement outposts across the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.