Middle East crisis live: US pick for UN affirms rightwing view on West Bank; UN chief urges Israeli forces to exercise ‘maximum restraint’

Trump ally Elise Stefanik says she supports Israeli claims of biblical rights to West Bank; Antonio Guterres cautions Israel's security forces over major West Bank operation

US President Donald Trump has reversed the Biden administration's sanctions on violent Israeli settlers in a concession to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu amid the precarious ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. You can follow our US Politics blog for the latest on all the key policy actions taken by Trump on inauguration day here.

Trump rescinded an executive order Biden signed last February, which gave the US government the power to sanction any foreign nationals who tried to attack, intimidate or seize the property of Palestinian people in the occupied West Bank.