BRUSSELS: European Union foreign ministers on Monday agreed new sanctions against illegal Israeli settlers and organisations for supporting violence and illegal settlement activity in the occupied West Bank.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot confirmed the decision in a post on X, saying the EU had approved sanctions against “the main Israeli organisations guilty of supporting the extremist and violent colonisation of the West Bank, as well as their leaders”.
“These most serious and intolerable acts must cease without delay,” Barrot wrote.
C'est fait !
L'Union européenne sanctionne aujourd'hui les principales organisations israéliennes coupables de soutenir la colonisation extrémiste et violente de la Cisjordanie, ainsi que leur dirigeants. Ces actes gravissimes et intolérables doivent cesser sans délais.
Elle…
— Jean-Noël Barrot (@jnbarrot) May 11, 2026
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas also confirmed the move, saying EU ministers had “given the go-ahead to sanction illegal Israeli settlers over violence against Palestinians”.
“It was high time we move from deadlock to delivery. Extremisms and violence carry consequences,” Kallas said on X.
EU Foreign Ministers just gave the go-ahead to sanction Israeli settlers over violence against Palestinians.
They also agreed new sanctions on leading Hamas figures.
It was high time we move from deadlock to delivery.
Extremisms and violence carry consequences.— Kaja Kallas (@kajakallas) May 11, 2026
The sanctions package had been stalled for months due to opposition from former Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban, a close ally of Israel.
Diplomatic sources, cited by AFP, said the political change in Hungary following Orban’s removal from office by rival Peter Magyar paved the way for the EU to lift the veto and finalise the measures.
EU officials said seven illegal settlers or settler-linked organisations would be added to the bloc’s blacklist.
The EU also agreed to impose sanctions on representatives of the Palestinian group Hamas.
Barrot said the sanctions also targeted “the main leaders of Hamas”.
“The hope that France revived last year in New York, that of two recognised and respected states living side by side in peace and security, we will let no one undermine it,” he added.
The occupied West Bank has experienced a sharp rise in violence since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023.
According to Palestinian officials and the United Nations, Israeli military operations, settler attacks, arrests, demolitions and settlement expansion have intensified across the territory.
Palestinian officials said at least 1,155 Palestinians had been killed, around 11,750 injured and nearly 22,000 arrested in the occupied West Bank since the beginning of the Gaza conflict.
