The European Union has agreed on new sanctions on Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank for violence against Palestinians. The sanctions had been blocked for months by the previous Hungarian government, which lost an election last month.
"It was high time we move from deadlock to delivery," vice-president of the European Commission Kaja Kallas said on X (formerly Twitter), after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels. "Extremism and violence carry consequences."
The sanctions – which include asset freezes and travel bans – target three individual settlers and four settler organisations, who have not yet been identified.
They will also target members of the Palestinian militant group Hamas – a condition required by some countries in order to support the sanctions.
The occupied West Bank has been gripped by almost daily violence involving Israeli troops and settlers since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
West Bank settlements prompt call for sanctions from European political figures
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the EU was "sanctioning the main Israeli organisations guilty of supporting the extremist and violent colonisation of the West Bank, as well as their leaders".
"These most serious and intolerable acts must cease without delay," he wrote on social media.
The EU imposed sanctions on eight individuals and organisations in 2024, but further measures had been blocked by former Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, an ally of Israel.
Hungary's new prime minister, Peter Magyar, appears to have paved the way for the veto to be lifted.
Condemnation from Israel
Israel condemned the new sanctions.
"As Israel and the US are 'doing Europe's dirty work' by fighting for civilisation against jihadist lunatics in Iran and elsewhere, the European Union exposed its moral bankruptcy by drawing a false symmetry between Israeli citizens and Hamas terrorists," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on its official X account.
EU rolls out €6m West Bank aid plan amid settler violence against Palestinians
While the EU is moving ahead with the sanctions on Israeli settlers, there remains no consensus yet among member states to take further steps against Israel, such as curbing trade ties.
The meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels discussed calls to ban products from Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Italy's Antonio Tajani said the EU would make a proposal and see if it had enough backing from member states.
More than 500,000 Israelis live in the occupied West Bank, not including east Jerusalem, among some 3 million Palestinians, in settlements that are illegal under international law.
In 2025, the expansion of Israeli settlements reached its highest level since 2017, when the United Nations began tracking data.
(with newswires)
