Updated

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking to reporters in Miami at about 7:00 p.m. Israel time on 8 September 2026, said Washington would "obviously" not be joining the United Kingdom and eleven other Western countries in barring trade with Israeli West Bank settlements, while declining to comment further on the British announcement. He nonetheless stressed the need for stability in the West Bank, a territory he described as roiled by settler violence and rapid Israeli settlement expansion. Rubio linked the situation in the West Bank to the wider regional diplomacy, saying instability there had implications for progress on Gaza under the US-backed 20-point plan and the associated "Board of Peace," to which he said the administration remained strongly committed. The remarks underscored the divergence between the United States and its European allies over how to respond to Israeli settlement policy.