Australia sanctions Israeli settlers for violence against Palestinians

Australia on Thursday imposed sanctions on seven illegal Israeli settlers for violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

These settlers will face financial sanctions, as well as travel ban, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said.

Also, an unnamed entity will face financial sanctions, she said.

Wong noted that the targeted settlers have been “involved in violent attacks on Palestinians.”

The settler violence against Palestinians includes beatings, sexual assault, and torture, resulting in serious injury and in some cases, death, she said in a statement.

“The entity sanctioned is a youth group that is responsible for inciting and perpetrating violence against Palestinian communities,” said the statement.

Canberra calls 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,” said Wong.

Palestinians are increasingly exposed to threats and violent attacks from illegal Israeli settlers.

Tel Aviv recently announced the construction of over 6,000 new housing units in Israeli settlements, as well as the decision to confiscate large Palestinian lands by converting 12.7 square kilometers (4.9 square miles) of West Bank land into "state property."

The Israeli army has killed at least 589 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since Oct. 7, the Health Ministry said Wednesday.

At least 142 children were among the slain.

Tensions have been running high across the occupied West Bank amid a deadly Israeli offensive that killed over 39,000 people in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, 2023.

The International Court of Justice, in an advisory opinion on July 19, declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land "unlawful" and should be brought to an end "as rapidly as possible."