Donald Trump warned Thursday that he would not allow Israel to annex the occupied West Bank, on the eve of an expected speech by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the UN podium.

"I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank. No, I will not allow it. It will not happen," Donald Trump, who had not yet taken a public position on the issue, told reporters in the Oval Office.

This statement comes on the eve of a speech at the UN in New York by Benjamin Netanyahu, who some fear will be vindictive after a new wave of recognition of the Palestinian state.

He has already stated that his government will expand Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. And far-right Israeli ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have gone further, calling for its annexation.

As the Israeli Prime Minister will then travel to Washington, "the Arab and Muslim countries have made it clear to the president (Trump, editor's note) the dangers of any annexation of the West Bank and the risks that this would pose not only to any possible peace in Gaza but also to any lasting peace," Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan commented on Thursday.

"We are quite close to having an agreement on Gaza and perhaps even peace," the American president assured after speaking with the head of the Israeli government.

On Wednesday, US envoy Steve Witkoff announced a new "21-point plan for peace in the Middle East and Gaza."

Donald Trump wants to "quickly end" the conflict, a White House official told AFP, adding that the countries present at the meeting "expressed their hope to work" with Steve Witkoff to study the project.

While Israel and the United States believe that the new recognitions are a reward for Hamas, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas assured the UN General Assembly on Thursday that the Palestinian Islamist movement behind the October 7 attacks would have "no role to play in governance."

- No role for Hamas -

"Hamas and other factions will have to surrender their weapons to the Palestinian Authority," insisted the leader, forced to speak via video, his visa having been refused by the United States.

"We reject what Hamas did on October 7," which "does not represent the Palestinian people or their just struggle for freedom and independence," he continued.

He also rejected "the confusion between solidarity with the Palestinian cause and the issue of anti-Semitism," which is opposed to "our values and principles."

Repeating the pledges made a few months ago to convince France in particular to take the step of recognition, Mahmoud Abbas called on "all countries that have not yet done so to recognize the Palestinian state."

At a summit held Monday by France and Saudi Arabia on the future of the two-state solution, with Palestinians and Israelis living side by side in peace and security, a dozen countries, including France, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, formally recognized the State of Palestine.

The vast majority of UN member states are on this line (at least 151 out of 193, according to AFP checks).

Benjamin Netanyahu has criticized these recognitions, repeating that "there will be no Palestinian state."

On Friday, "I will denounce those leaders who, instead of condemning murderers, rapists, and child burners, want to grant them a state in the heart of the Land of Israel," he said before leaving for New York, according to a statement from his office.

Mahmoud Abbas also did not mince his words against Israel, calling on the international community to "support our efforts to stop the genocide and the occupation."

After nearly two years of war in the ravaged Gaza Strip, "what Israel is conducting is not a simple aggression, it is a war crime and a crime against humanity (...) which will be recorded in the pages of history books and in the conscience of humanity as one of the most horrific chapters of the humanitarian tragedy of the 20th and 21st centuries," he said.