Top US diplomat Marco Rubio warned that Israel's moves towards annexing the occupied West Bank risked undermining a fragile US-brokered truce in Gaza, as he headed to Israel on Thursday.

Israeli lawmakers on Wednesday advanced two bills paving the way for West Bank annexation, days after President Donald Trump secured a ceasefire deal aimed at ending Israel's two-year offensive in Gaza, launched after Hamas's October 2023 attacks.

"I think the president's made clear that's not something we can be supportive of right now," Rubio said of annexation as he boarded his plane for a visit to Israel.

Annexation moves are "threatening for the peace deal," he told reporters, acknowledging the Israeli lawmakers' latest steps.

"At this time, it's something that we... think might be counterproductive," Rubio said.

Asked about increased violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank, Rubio said: "We're concerned about anything that threatens to destabilise what we've worked on."

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, and violence there has surged since the start of the war in Gaza.

According to the Ramallah-based Palestinian health ministry, Israeli troops and settlers have killed........

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