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

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.