UK and allies sanction 'networks' enabling settler violence in West Bank

Key developments are emerging from the global stage. UK and allies sanction 'networks' enabling settler violence in West Bank33 minutes ago Share Save Add as preferred on GoogleMaia DaviesandDavid GrittenReutersA funeral in the occupied West Bank after three Palestinians were shot dead during an Israeli settler attack in June 2025The UK, Australia, Canada, France and Norway have imposed sanctions on what they call "networks" involved in financing and enabling attacks against Palestinian civilians by Jewish settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The move is designed to "hold extremist settlers accountable for the horrific levels of settler violence", the five countries said. France also barred far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich from entering the country.

He has wide authority over government policies on settlements in the West Bank, which are illegal under international law. Israel said it rejected the "disgraceful measures", calling them political acts "camouflaged as measures against violence". Israel has built about 160 settlements housing 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem - land Palestinians want, along with Gaza, for a hoped-for future state - during the 1967 Middle East war.

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3 million Palestinians live alongside them. There has been a surge in attacks by settlers on Palestinians and their property in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, which was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. The UN documented 1,835 attacks by settlers against Palestinians in 2025 that resulted in casualties or damage to property, in around 280 communities across the West Bank.

At least seven Palestinians were killed and 832 injured in those attacks - both representing 130% increases compared to the previous year's figures. Settlement expansion has also risen sharply since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power in 2022 at the head of a right-wing, pro-settler coalition. It has approved more than 100 new settlements across the West Bank, according to the Israeli watchdog Peace Now.

Some already existed as settler outposts that were built without government authorisation and have now been made legal under Israeli law. His father had just been buried. Then West Bank settlers forced him to dig up the bodyEU agrees sanctions on Israeli settlers over West Bank violenceTwo Palestinians killed during settler attack on West Bank village, officials say"For too long, violent settlers have been able to act with near impunity, and settlement expansion and creation of outposts continue with the support and facilitation of the Government of Israel," said the joint statement from the British, Australian, Canadian, French and Norwegian foreign ministers.

"In some cases, settler violence takes place under the protection of Israel's security forces""We continue to urge the Government of Israel to take action to ensure meaningful accountability for violence in the West Bank," they added.

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.