The European Union (EU) foreign ministers on Monday reached an agreement on a new sanctions package targeting violent Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, as well as senior Hamas figures, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas announced.
According to the decision, the sanctions will target three Israeli settlers and four settler organisations. However, the identities of those individuals and groups have not yet been made public.
The proposal had reportedly been blocked for months by the previous Hungarian government, which lost an election last month, allowing the agreement to move forward.
European governments have increasingly expressed concern over rising reports of settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
Kallas welcomed the breakthrough, saying in a post on X that “it was high time we move from deadlock to delivery,” adding that “extremisms and violence carry consequences.”
Reacting to the EU decision, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar criticised the move on X, saying the European Union had “chosen, in an arbitrary and political manner, to impose sanctions on Israeli citizens and entities because of their political views and without any basis.”
He further said it was “outrageous” that the EU was drawing what he called an unacceptable comparison between Israeli citizens and Hamas militants, describing it as a “completely distorted moral equivalence.”
There was no immediate response from Hamas regarding the sanctions announcement.
The occupied West Bank has experienced almost daily violence since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, involving Israeli forces and settlers.
Palestinian officials and the United Nations have also reported a sharp rise in deadly attacks by Israeli settlers in the West Bank since the beginning of the US-Israeli war on Iran on February 28.