The United States announced Friday that it was refusing to grant visas to members of the Palestinian Authority ahead of the UN General Assembly scheduled for September, where France will advocate for the recognition of a Palestinian state.

"Secretary of State Marco Rubio is revoking and denying visas to members of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority prior to the upcoming United Nations General Assembly," the State Department said in a statement.

This extraordinary move brings the Trump administration even closer to the Israeli government, which categorically rejects the idea of a Palestinian state and seeks to equate the Palestinian Authority, based in the West Bank, with Hamas in Gaza.

"The Trump administration has been clear: it is in our national security interest to hold the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority accountable for failing to uphold their commitments and jeopardizing prospects for peace," the statement read.

The Palestinian Authority, in turn, expressed "its deep regret and astonishment" at this decision, which is "in contradiction with international law," and called on Washington to "reverse" it.

The State Department has accused the Palestinians of misusing the justice system for illegitimate purposes by turning to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to resolve their disputes with Israel.

The Palestinian Authority must end "attempts to circumvent negotiations through international legal wars" and "efforts to obtain unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state," the text says.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar thanked the Trump administration on X for "this courageous step" and for "supporting Israel once again."

UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said it was "important" that all states and permanent observers, including the Palestinians, be represented at a summit scheduled for the day before the General Assembly begins. "We obviously hope this will be resolved."

- Mahmoud Abbas at the UN -

The United States is not supposed to deny visas to officials traveling to the UN, headquartered in New York, under an agreement the State Department says it is respecting by allowing the Palestinian mission to the UN.

The State Department did not specify whether the measure announced Friday applied to all Palestinian officials.

His spokesman said the United States "remains open to resuming contacts if the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization take concrete steps to return to constructive discussion."

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is scheduled to attend the 80th UN General Assembly, which will be held from September 9 to 23, according to Riyad Mansour, Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations.

"We will see what exactly this entails and how it applies to our delegations, and then we will respond accordingly," Mansour told reporters.

At the end of July, Emmanuel Macron announced that France would recognize the State of Palestine at the UN General Assembly. In the wake of this, more than a dozen Western countries called on other countries around the world to do the same.

In 1988, Yasser Arafat, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization, addressed a special session of the General Assembly held in Geneva rather than New York after the United States refused to allow him to return to its territory.

More recently, in 2013, the United States denied a visa to Omar al-Bashir, then president of Sudan, who was wanted by the ICC on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in the Darfur conflict.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the ICC.

Donald Trump plans to attend the General Assembly in September, where he will deliver one of the first speeches. His administration has significantly limited its relations with the United Nations and other international organizations.