The European Union announced sanctions on extremist Israeli settlers on Monday after all 27 EU foreign ministers reached an agreement to break the deadlock.
The bloc however, stopped short of imposing a trade embargo through the suspension of the EU-Israel association agreement, as called for by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez as well as leading human rights organisations.
While acknowledging the "surge of settler violence in the West Bank", the 27 Member States agreed to sanction Israeli extremist settlers and entities, as well as key Hamas figures.
It marks a break from the political deadlock caused by former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a key ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was blocking any EU action.
Earlier this week, Spanish Prime Minister Sanchez stressed that not taking action against Israel was undermining the defence of Ukraine, amid criticism of the EU's clear double standards on international law.
"Today, we reached a political agreement to sanction Israeli extremist settlers and entities. This goes together with new sanctions on leading Hamas figures. This means that we move from the political deadlock that was there for a long time. Violence and extremism carry consequences.
The sanctions include a freeze on any assets held on European territory and a travel ban for the targeted individuals.
Measures to restrict EU trade with the West Bank settlements were also discussed, but according to Kallas, there is currently insufficient support for this. Nor is there yet a formal proposal from the Commission on the table.
'Violence carries consequences'
Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot (Les Engagés) welcomed the agreement, having been a key voice inside the EU to take action against Israel’s human rights abuses.
"On behalf of Belgium, I have been pleading for this at the European table for a very long time," said Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot on social media.
"These sanctions send a clear message: extremism and violence carry consequences. The illegal settlements and the rise in settler violence against Palestinians are unacceptable and undermine any prospect of a two-state solution."
"Hamas must be disarmed and excluded from any role in the future of Palestine," Prévot added."The two-state solution is the only path to lasting peace and security, for Israelis and Palestinians alike," he concludes.
In a response, Israel immediately rejected the "arbitrary and political" decision. "Israel has stood, stands, and will continue to stand for the right of Jews to settle in the heart of our homeland," Foreign Minister Gideon Saar responded on X to the decision.
Saar also criticised the fact that the EU had, at the same time, approved sanctions against twelve leading figures from Hamas.
"Equally outrageous is the unacceptable comparison the European Union has chosen to make between Israeli citizens and Hamas terrorists. This is a completely distorted moral equivalence," he wrote.
On Tuesday, Amnesty International called for investigations into Israel's "unjustified destruction" of residential buildings, "collective punishment", and "direct attacks against the civilian population, constituting war crimes" in the Gaza Strip, the NGO announced in a statement.
