EU foreign ministers agree on plans to sanction Israeli settlers

EU foreign ministers agreed on plans to sanction extremist Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank for the first time, multiple diplomats told dpa on Monday

The EU sanctions involve a travel ban and asset freeze and are to come into force in the coming days when published in the EU Official Journal, a register of EU laws. EU citizens are also to be forbidden from doing business with the targets.

A previous EU attempt to sanction Israeli settlers failed after opposition from Hungary, a strong supporter of Israel. Hungary agreed to abstain on the forthcoming punitive measures. Sanctions require unaniminity from all EU member states.

Tensions in the West Bank have skyrocketed in the wake of the October 7 attacks by Hamas on southern Israel. Palestinians complain about increased violence by Israeli settlers against their villages and olive groves.

Israel took over the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the Six-Day War in 1967. Today around 600,000 Israelis live there in more than 200 settlements which are a major source of tension in the region.

In 2016, the UN Security Council classified these settlements a violation of international law and called on Israel to stop all settlement activity. The Palestinians claim the areas as part of their own future state.

The EU sanctions come after the United States imposed punitive measures on two settlements in the West Bank and targeted three settlers.

More sanctions on the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas are to come as part of the agreement to sanction Israeli settlers, EU diplomats said.

EU sanctions have already been imposed on Hamas, which operates mainly in the Gaza Strip, and its representatives several times in the past. The EU classified Hamas a terrorist organization more than 20 years ago.

EU foreign ministers are in Brussels to discuss the Israel-Hamas war with Israeli conduct in Gaza under scrutiny.

The war in Gaza has become a "graveyard for many of the most important principles of humanitarian law," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday.

The European Union's top diplomat described the conflict in the Gaza strip as "the greatest open air graveyard" in reference to civilian casualties among the Palestinian population.

Borrell said EU foreign ministers would also debate the bloc's association agreement with Israel but stressed that it was too early in the process to discuss suspending the agreement. He also urged EU countries to take action over Israeli obstacles to humanitarian aid access in Gaza.

Germany, as "friends of Israel," has made clear to the Israeli government that humanitarian aid in Gaza must be allowed to be delivered, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said.

"The millions of people in Gaza, many, many children who have not had enough food for weeks," need to be cared for, Baerbock said.

"The suffering is simply unbearable," Baerbock said, adding that Germany and the EU are working every day to secure a humanitarian ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.