The European Union has agreed to impose sanctions on Israeli settlers involved in illegal occupation of Palestinian land in the West Bank and on prominent figures of Hamas, ending a long-standing deadlock.
The sanctions target three Israeli settlers and four settler organisations. Their identities have not yet been publicly disclosed.
“It was high time we moved from deadlock to delivery,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in a social media post after the agreement. “Extremism and violence carry consequences.”
France, which has been a vocal critic of Israel, welcomed the move. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said the EU was “sanctioning the main Israeli organisations guilty of supporting the extremist and violent colonisation of the West Bank.”
“These most serious and intolerable acts must cease without delay,” he wrote on social media.
Israeli authorities quickly condemned the measures, asserting that Jews have the right to settle in the occupied West Bank, despite it being in violation of international law.
The EU has rejected these claims, stating that illegal annexations and forced evictions of Palestinians are unacceptable.
Far-right Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is wanted by the International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity in Palestine, said, “The settlement enterprise will not be deterred.
We will continue to build, to plant, to defend, and to settle throughout the entire land of Israel.”
The EU ministers also decided to sanction the leadership of the Palestinian group Hamas, whose armed wing played a major role in the October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel that killed around 1,200 people and led to 240 hostages being taken.
Excluding East Jerusalem, more than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements in the occupied West Bank, alongside some three million Palestinians.
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