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

France will also bar far-right Israeli Minister Bezalel Smotrich from entry as part of the measures, which Israel condemns as "disgraceful". UK and allies sanction 'networks' enabling settler violence in West Bank Copyright current_year BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking. Copyright current_year BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking. A funeral in the occupied West Bank after three Palestinians were shot dead during an Israeli settler attack in June 2025 Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinian men who were killed during an attack by Israeli settlers in Kafr Malik, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank (25 June 2025) The 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. An estimated 3.3 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. A man in a striped white and blue shirt sits in front of tapestry wall sheets, with people sitting down in the background. His father had just been buried. Then West Bank settlers forced him to dig up the body File photo showing a burned-out car following what Palestinians said was an attack by Israeli settlers in the Wadi al-Lubban al-Shamali area, south of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank (6 April 2026) EU agrees sanctions on Israeli settlers over West Bank violence Relatives of Aws al-Naasan mourn at a hospital in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, after he was shot dead during an attack involving Israeli settlers and soldiers in al-Mughayyir village (21 April 2026) Two 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 Foreign Office said the UK was imposing sanctions on six entities and one individual accused of being "involved in financing, enabling and carrying out settler violence in the occupied West Bank". They would face asset freezes, as well as travel bans and director disqualifications where appropriate, it added. The entities included an association that provided financial support to settler farms and outposts, and a construction company whose resources had been used to destroy Palestinian land and property, the Foreign Office said. It also announced that, for the first time, the UK's official guidance would "explicitly advise businesses against economic and financial activity in illegal settlements". Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper told the House of Commons: "We believe that violent settler groups should not be profiting from the land that they have seized from Palestinians." She added that the Israeli government had "condemned some settler violence, but that rings hollow when there is scant accountability". France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said it had banned Bezalel Smotrich from entering the country because he "actively promotes the annexation of the West Bank, which he openly claims, the creation of new settlements in the West Bank, the re-colonisation of Gaza, the economic collapse of the Palestinian Authority and its harmful consequences for the Palestinian population". Four leaders of settler organisations and 21 "violent settlers" had also been barred, he added. Norway said it was barring "20 violent settlers" from the country, while Australia published co-ordinated sanctions alongside New Zealand last week. Last June, the UK, Australia, Canada and Norway sanctioned Smotrich and far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir over what they said were "repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities". Last June, the UK, Australia, Canada and Norway sanctioned Smotrich and far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir over what they said were "repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities". Israel's foreign ministry condemned the latest sanctions. "The real essence of these steps is the attempt to impose a political stance regarding the right of Jews to settle in the Land of Israel and concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - camouflaged as measures against violence," it said in a statement. The ministry said such "anti-Israeli policies" only served to fuel the antisemitism that was "rampant" in the countries involved. The Palestinian foreign ministry welcomed the joint statement by the UK and its allies, which it said rejected "the occupation's measures to annex the West Bank". The US and Israeli leaders have lost control of the consequences after miscalculating the Iran war. The crew of a sanctioned oil tanker were rescued off Oman after it was struck by a missile fired from a US fighter jet. An uncrewed vessel picked up two crew members of an Apache helicopter that went down on Monday, US officials tells CBS News. Iran warned Israel on Monday that it could resume hostilities if attacks on its Lebanese ally Hezbollah do not stop. Police said the pilot was discovered to have flown with forged credentials since he was promoted to captain in 2009. He faces several fraud-related charges. Australia suffer only their second one-day international defeat by Bangladesh - and first for 21 years - in their series opener in Mirpur. 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