US Vice-President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have criticised a move by Israel's parliament towards annexation of the occupied West Bank.
On Wednesday, far-right politicians in the Knesset took the symbolic step of giving preliminary approval to a bill applying Israeli law in the territory, which the Palestinians claim as part of a hoped-for independent state.
At the end of a trip to Israel, Vance branded it a very stupid political stunt. Rubio warned before flying to Israel that annexation would threaten President Donald Trump's plan to end the conflict in Gaza.
Israel's prime minister called the move a deliberate political provocation by the opposition to sow discord.
A statement from Benjamin Netanyahu's office stressed that his right-wing Likud party and its ultra-Orthodox coalition partners did not vote for the bill, except for one disgruntled Likud member who was recently fired from the chairmanship of a Knesset committee.
Without Likud support these bills are unlikely to go anywhere, it added.
The bill passed in a 25-24 vote. It is unclear whether it has support to win a majority in the 120-seat Knesset (parliament), and there are ways the prime minister can delay or defeat it.
The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned the Knesset's move, saying Israel would have no sovereignty over Palestinian land.
