The United States and European Union have imposed sanctions targeting hardliner Israeli settlers engaged in violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
The EU said on Friday that the European Council slapped sanctions on four “extremist” Israeli settlers and two entities over “serious human rights abuses against Palestinians”.
The decision was the second part of an agreement among EU member states that saw sanctions against Palestinian group Hamas over its October 7 attack on southern Israel.
The move to target violent settlers in the West Bank comes two months after the US and Britain took similar steps.
The EU put two “radical” organisations – Lehava and the Hilltop Youth – on its asset freeze and visa ban blacklist for their attacks on Palestinians. It also included Hilltop Youth leaders Meir Ettinger and Elisha Yered, along with settlers Neria Ben Pazi and Yinon Levi.
It said abuses included “torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” and “the violation of right to property and to private and family life of Palestinians in the West Bank”.
Undermining ‘peace, security, stability’
Separately, the US on Friday said it was adding Ben-Zion Gopstein, the founder and leader of Lehava, to its own blacklist.
Washington also imposed sanctions on two groups involved in raising tens of thousands of dollars for settlers Yinon Levi and David Chai Chasdai, who were targeted in its earlier sanctions, the Treasury Department announced in a statement.
Washington had previously sanctioned five settlers and two unauthorised outposts in the West Bank in two rounds of sanctions.
One entity, Mount Hebron Fund, launched an online fundraising campaign that raised $140,000 for Levi, the Treasury said, after he was sanctioned on February 1 for leading a group of settlers that assaulted Palestinian and Bedouin civilians, burned their fields and destroyed their property.
It said the second entity, Shlom Asiraich, raised $31,000 on a crowdfunding website for Chasdai, who the US says initiated and led a riot that included setting vehicles and buildings on fire and causing damage to property in Huwara, resulting in the death of a Palestinian civilian.
“Such acts by these organisations undermine the peace, security, and stability of the West Bank. We will continue to use our tools to hold those responsible accountable,” Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo said.
Israel raids Nur Shams
Meanwhile, on the ground, the Israeli army continued to carry out violent raids in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi, reporting from Tulkarem in the West Bank, said the Israeli military went into Nur Shams refugee camp late on Thursday night in an hours-long operation that stretched into Friday.
Armed clashes carried on between the military and Palestinian resistance fighters, leaving five people dead.
“One of them was the leader of the Tulkarem resistance brigade – the battalion of about 50 men strong that is based in Tulkarem – a man named Mohammed Jaber,” Basravi said.
“Dozens of homes are destroyed and demolished. Israeli soldiers have been carrying out raids in homes, carrying out on-site interrogations.
“Locals describe the mayhem being carried out by the Israeli military as the worst destruction of infrastructure they’ve seen in the West Bank since the destruction of the Jenin refugee camp during the second Intifada in the early 2000s,” Basravi added.
The West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has seen a surge in violence in the past year, particularly since Israel’s war on Gaza erupted in October of last year.
At least 468 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers across the West Bank since October 7, according to official Palestinian sources.
In the Gaza Strip, Israel’s war has killed 34,000 Palestinians and wounded over 76,800 more.
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Aljazera
