40 nations in The Hague propose sanctions on Israel over its settlement policy in West Bank

Forty nations have proposed a sweeping package of sanctions against Israel, including arms embargoes and traveller screenings, to counter the "de facto annexation" of the West Bank.

According to the co-chairs' statement, the group presented these measures in response to an "unprecedented acceleration" of settlement policies that constitute a "direct assault" on Palestinian self-determination.

Among the proposed enforcement tools is a disclosure requirement for travellers with Israeli documents, subjecting those who served in the military to "secondary screening at ports of entry" under war-crimes inadmissibility rules.

The states also called for a total prohibition on the import of settlement goods and a halt to the "transfer, transit or carriage of arms" and military fuel.

The statement emphasised that governments face a clear choice between "complicity or compliance", asserting: "History will judge us not by the speeches we delivered, but by the actions we took."

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The meeting co-chaired by South Africa and Colombia is the largest gathering of The Hague Group since its 2025 inception, it noted.

Israel has intensified operations in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since launching its military campaign in Gaza on October 8, 2023. Palestinians view the escalation, including killings, arrests, displacement and settlement expansion, as a step towards formal annexation of the territory.

In a landmark opinion in July 2024, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

In February Israel's cabinet on approved further measures to tighten Israel's control over the occupied West Bank and make it easier for settlers to buy land, a move Palestinians called a "de-facto annexation".

The West Bank is among the territories that Palestinians seek for a future independent state. Much of it is under Israeli military control, with limited Palestinian self-rule in some areas run by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority.