Australia sanctions Israeli settlers over West Bank violence

Australia on Thursday imposed financial sanctions and travel bans on seven Israeli settlers and a youth group it said had been involved in violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.

The unnamed group was responsible for inciting and perpetrating violence against Palestinians, while the settlers had been involved in beatings, sexual assault and torture and in some cases death, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said.

"We call on Israel to hold perpetrators of settler violence to account and to cease its ongoing settlement activity, which only inflames tensions and further undermines stability and prospects for a two-state solution," Wong said in a statement.

The move by the Australian government comes after allies Britain, the United States, Canada and Japan sanctioned some Israeli settlers in response to the violence in the West Bank.

Israel's embassy in Australia said the country condemned violence acts against Palestinian communities.

"Israel is a state of law and will work to bring the extreme minority involved to justice," a spokesperson said in an email.

Violent acts by some Israeli settlers in the West Bank have increased amid Israel's war in Gaza, sparked by an attack on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Oct. 7.

Since the 1967 Middle East war, Israel has occupied the West Bank of the Jordan River which Palestinians want as the core of an independent state. It has built Jewish settlements there that most countries deem illegal but Israel disputes this and cites historical and Biblical ties to the land.

Australia considers Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian Territories illegal and an obstacle to peace.