European Union foreign ministers have agreed to impose new sanctions on Israeli settlers and organisations accused of involvement in violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

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The decision was approved by the bloc’s 27 foreign ministers on Monday after months of delay, as concerns grow over a rise in settler attacks since the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023.

Officials said the measures target individuals and groups linked to extremist settler activity, though technical and legal procedures must still be completed before the sanctions formally take effect.

EU Moves After Months of Delay

The sanctions plan had previously been stalled due to opposition from Hungary’s former prime minister Viktor Orban, a close ally of Israel. A recent change in Hungary’s government removed that obstacle, allowing EU ministers to move forward with the proposal.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the move signalled a shift from political stalemate to concrete action.

“It is high time we move from deadlock to delivery,” she said, adding that extremism and violence must carry consequences.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot also confirmed the measures, saying the EU had decided to sanction several Israeli organisations accused of supporting what he described as extremist and violent settlement expansion in the West Bank.

Alongside the measures targeting settlers, EU ministers also agreed to add additional representatives from Hamas to the bloc’s sanctions list.

Israel Condemns the Decision

Israel strongly criticised the EU’s move. Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said the sanctions were politically motivated and unjustified.

He said Israel would continue to defend what he called the right of Jewish people to live in the “heart of our homeland”.

Sa’ar also rejected comparisons between Israeli citizens and Hamas members, describing the EU’s approach as a “distorted moral equivalence”.

The Israeli government has long supported the expansion of settlements, which many in Israel see as a security and historical claim to the land. Critics, however, argue the policy undermines prospects for a Palestinian state.

Settlements and Rising Violence

Israeli settlements are built on land captured during the 1967 Middle East war, including the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Under international law they are widely considered illegal, a view Israel disputes.

Around 160 settlements have been established since 1967 and are now home to roughly 700,000 Israelis.

Settlement expansion has accelerated since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to office in late 2022 leading a right-wing coalition that includes pro-settler parties.

Violence in the West Bank has also increased since the Gaza war began, which followed the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023.

According to United Nations figures, more than 1,800 settler attacks causing casualties or property damage were recorded across about 280 Palestinian communities in 2025 alone.

Recent incidents cited by UN officials include a Palestinian man shot dead during a settler attack in the village of Tayasir and a series of assaults on villages where homes, vehicles and farmland were set on fire.

The UN human rights office has also condemned reports that settlers forced Palestinians to exhume a grave, describing the allegation as “appalling”.

Individuals and Groups Targeted

EU officials said seven settlers or settler organisations would be subject to the sanctions.

Israeli media reports indicate those listed include Daniella Weiss, a prominent figure in the settler movement who has already been sanctioned by the UK.

Organisations reportedly facing sanctions include Nachala and Regavim, both known for promoting settlement expansion. HaShomer Yosh and Amana, groups that provide financial and logistical support to unauthorised settlement outposts, are also said to be included.

Reports also name Regavim chief executive Meir Deutsch and HaShomer Yosh head Avichai Suissa among those targeted.

Suissa had previously been sanctioned by the United States in 2024 but was later removed from the sanctions list during Donald Trump’s presidency.

Separately, some EU countries are pushing for a ban on goods produced in Israeli settlements, though member states have not yet reached agreement on that proposal.

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Adapted by ASEAN Now. Source 12 May 2026

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Wow , this will really deter the settlers. 🙄

27 countries. Move the violence back to Israel. They can shoot their neighbours there.

Hussein Asasa

His father had just been buried. Then West Bank settlers forced him to dig up the body

A grieving son returned from burying his father—only to face a horrifying new ordeal moments later.

In the occupied West Bank, Mohammed Asasa says armed Jewish settlers forced his family to dig up the freshly buried body of his 80-year-old father Hussein after threatening to do it themselves.

The shocking incident unfolded last Friday in the tiny village of Asasa near Jenin, where Hussein Asasa had been laid to rest following his death from natural causes. The respected father-of-10, a former livestock trader, had just been buried according to Islamic tradition in a simple grave overlooking the village.

Then panic erupted. Children raced into the family home screaming: “The settlers are digging up the grave!”

Mohammed and his brothers rushed back to the cemetery and found a group of settlers hacking into the newly covered grave with heavy tools. Some of the settlers were armed. Mohammed says the family first tried to reason with them—but the situation escalated rapidly.

“They were on the point of reaching the body,” he recalled. “I’m sure they were about to remove it.”

The settlers came from Sa-Nur, a recently re-established settlement overlooking the cemetery. The Israeli government recently allowed Sa-Nur to be reoccupied as part of a controversial expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Under international law, settlements on Palestinian land are considered illegal. But on the ground, tensions are intensifying fast. Mobile phone footage captured the harrowing aftermath. Family members were allegedly told: “Either you exhume the body or we’ll do it.”

The settlers claimed the burial site was too close to their settlement. The images showed Mohammed and his brothers digging up their father’s body themselves before carrying the shrouded remains away from the cemetery and down the hillside.

Settlers armed with automatic rifles watched as the grieving family removed the body to what they believed was safer ground. The Israeli army later said it intervened by confiscating digging tools from settlers and attempting to prevent further escalation.

But the family accused soldiers of standing by while they were humiliated and forced to empty the grave.

In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces said it “condemns any attempt” to harm “the dignity of the living and the deceased”.

The outrage quickly spread beyond the village. The UN human rights office condemned the incident as “appalling” and symbolic of what it called the “dehumanisation of Palestinians”.

Ajith Sunghay, local head of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the treatment “spares no-one, dead or alive”.

Villagers say life has changed dramatically since settlers returned to Sa-Nur. Much of the surrounding land—including olive groves, farmland and even the cemetery—has reportedly become inaccessible after the area was designated a “closed military area”.

Residents claim settlers have become increasingly aggressive, with many openly carrying weapons. Families say even carefully coordinated access with the military no longer guarantees safety.

The incident comes amid a surge in settler-related violence across the West Bank. Reports cited by The New York Times say 13 Palestinians were killed in settler attacks between the start of the US-Israeli war against Iran and the end of April, while hundreds more were injured or displaced.

Human rights groups warn settlers are becoming increasingly emboldened, backed by support from extremist ministers in Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

In the end, Hussein Asasa was buried again—this time in a neighbouring village.

For his sons, the final farewell came only after a day of grief, fear and extraordinary humiliation.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjrpnjpl39po