An Israeli official said Tuesday that the US will use its veto if the UN Security Council decides to vote on approving an independent Palestinian state.

The US supports negotiations rather than unilateral steps, Israeli minister Uzi Landau said in an Israel radio report.

Israel should announce the annexation of several huge settlement outposts and the Jordan Valley if the Palestinians announce statehood at the UN, he continued.

Israel must put also an end to the "war of attrition" that Hamas is waging against Israel, according to Landau.

He called for a much larger-scale attack on Gaza than the current airstrikes.

Landau is a member of the Israeli parliament for the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party.