A top Israeli official admitted on Tuesday that new measures in the West Bank mean Israel is taking "de facto sovereignty" over the land. Energy Minister Eli Cohen told Israel’s Army Radio that these steps "actually establish a fact on the ground that there will not be a Palestinian state." These rules deepen Israeli control over the occupied West Bank, home to about 3.4 million Palestinians who want it as their future state. Other Israeli officials, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defence Minister Israel Katz, also made similar statements supporting this view. Palestinians, Arab countries, and human rights groups have strongly condemned the moves announced on Sunday, calling them an annexation of the territory. This position puts Israel at odds with regional allies and contradicts earlier statements by U.S. President Donald Trump. Netanyahu is set to meet Trump in Washington later this week. Last year, Trump said he would not allow Israel to annex the West Bank. The U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas also acknowledged Palestinian hopes for statehood. But Israel’s new rules and officials’ own words now challenge the future of a Palestinian state in the region.