Jerusalem (CNN) The White House denied a claim by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday that he had discussed an initiative with the Trump administration to annex Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

White House spokesperson Josh Raffel said, "Reports that the United States discussed with Israel an annexation plan for the West Bank are false. The United States and Israel have never discussed such a proposal, and the President's focus remains squarely on his Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative."

On Monday afternoon, Netanyahu said he had been in talks with the American administration "for some time" on applying Israeli sovereignty to West Bank settlements.

Speaking at a Likud party faction meeting, Netanyahu said, "On the subject of applying the Sovereignty Law, I can tell you that for some time now, I have been holding talks on the subject with the Americans," according to a spokesman for Coalition Chairman David Amsalem.

But a statement only hours later appeared to say the American government pushed back on the idea.

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