EU agrees on sanctions targeting Israeli occupiers in West Bank

European Union foreign ministers agreed Monday on a new round of sanctions targeting Israeli occupiers and organizations accused of supporting illegal settlement activity in the occupied West Bank.

"It's done! The European Union is sanctioning today the main Israeli organizations guilty of supporting the extremist and violent colonization of the West Bank, as well as their leaders. These most serious and intolerable acts must cease without delay," French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on US social media platform X.

Barrot said the EU also adopted sanctions against "the main leaders of Hamas."

"The hope that France revived last year in New York, that of two recognized and respected States living side by side in peace and security, we will let no one undermine it," he added.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas also confirmed the decision, saying EU foreign ministers "gave the go-ahead to sanction Israeli settlers over violence against Palestinians."

"It was high time we move from deadlock to delivery. Extremisms and violence carry consequences," Kallas said on X.

The decision came as EU foreign ministers gathered in Brussels for a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council.

The occupied West Bank has seen escalating violence since the start of Israel's war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023, including killings, arrests, home demolitions and settlement expansion, according to Palestinian officials.

At least 1,155 Palestinians have since been killed, about 11,750 injured, and nearly 22,000 arrested in the occupied West Bank, according to official Palestinian figures.