EU countries agree on sanctions on Israeli settlers

BRUSSELS - The European Union (EU) members on Monday agreed on new sanctions on Israeli settlers over violence against Palestinians, after a months-long deadlock, according to a top EU diplomat.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on social media platform X that foreign ministers of EU members had approved the move. The decision comes amid rising settler violence and settlement expansion in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. "It was high time we move from deadlock to delivery," Kallas said.

The EU has yet to publish details of the individuals and entities to be targeted by the new sanctions.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on X that the EU was sanctioning major Israeli organizations and their leaders over their support for the "extremist and violent colonization of the West Bank." He said such "serious and intolerable" acts must stop immediately.

However, EU diplomats failed to agree on further measures, including a ban on products from Israeli settlements in the West Bank or the suspension of a key trade agreement with Israel.

Since 2023, more than 5,900 Palestinians have been displaced by settler violence, including about 2,000 this year alone, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.