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Britain has imposed fresh sanctions on Israeli settlers in the West Bank, as the United States warned Israel it must boost aid into Gaza within 30 days or risk losing its supply of cash for weapons.
Foreign secretary David Lammy accused Israel of allowing “impunity to flourish” among extremist settlers, as he announced new measures targeting three outposts and four organisations that have supported and perpetrated “heinous abuses of human rights” against Palestinian communities in the occupied territory.
There has been a huge rise in settler violence in the West Bank over the last year, with the UN recording more than 1,400 attacks by the illegal settlers since October 2023.
It came just hours after Mr Lammy’s predecessor, David Cameron, revealed he had been preparing to sanction two Israeli ministers over comments encouraging blocking aid to Gaza.
Adding to the pressure on Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, the White House has warned that more humanitarian aid must flow into Gaza or have weapons funding cut.
Secretary of state Antony Blinken and defence secretary Lloyd Austin wrote to their Israeli counterparts demanding changes amid deteriorating conditions in northern Gaza and an Israeli strike on a hospital tent site that killed at least four people, causing international dismay.
For Israel to continue qualifying for foreign military financing, the level of aid getting into Gaza must increase to at least 350 trucks a day, Israel must institute additional humanitarian pauses and provide increased security for humanitarian sites, Mr Austin and Mr Blinken wrote. They said Israel had 30 days to respond. In the British sanctions announced on Tuesday, the three settlements targeted are Tirzah Valley Farm Outpost, Meitarim Outpost and Shuvi Eretz Outpost.
The four organisations sanctioned are Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva, a religious school known to promote violence against non-Jewish people; Hashomer Yosh, a group which provides volunteers for illegal outposts; Torat Lechima, a registered charity which provides financial support to the settlements; and construction company Amana.
Mr Lammy said: “The inaction of the Israeli government has allowed an environment of impunity to flourish where settler violence has been allowed to increase unchecked. Settlers have shockingly even targeted schools and families with young children.”
He said the latest measures will “help bring accountability to those who have supported and perpetrated such heinous abuses of human rights”.
“The Israeli government must crack down on settler violence and stop settler expansion on Palestinian land. As long as violent extremists remain unaccountable, the UK and the international community will continue to act”, Mr Lammy added.
Piling pressure on Labour, Lord Cameron said that before the general election he was “working up” sanctions on Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich and national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir as a way of putting “pressure on Netanyahu” to act within international law.
Mr Smotrich was recently criticised for appearing to suggest it might be “just and moral” to withhold food aid from Gaza, while Mr Ben-Gvir has backed the expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank.
The former PM and foreign secretary criticised Labour’s decision to suspend some arms sales to Israel, saying it is not in line with the government’s stance of supporting the country’s right to self-defence.
Lord Cameron told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Before we left office I was working up sanctions on these two ministers, ministers Smotrich and Ben-Gvir, who, when you look at what they say, they have said things like encouraging people to stop aid convoys going into Gaza, they have encouraged extreme settlers in the West Bank with the appalling things they have been carrying out.
“So, actually saying to Netanyahu, ‘yes, we support your right to self-defence, no, we are not going to end the sale of arms, but actually when ministers in your government who are extremists and behave in this way, we are prepared to use our sanctions regime to say this is not good enough and has to stop’.”
He urged the current government to “look again at this sanctions issue” rather than go down the “wrong path” of suspending arms exports.
Asked why his planned sanctions did not go ahead, Lord Cameron said he had been advised that it would have been “too much of a political act” during the UK election.
Mr Lammy has condemned both men but last month declined to commit to sanctioning them when urged to do so during a Commons debate.
As foreign secretary, Lord Cameron repeatedly refused to suspend arms sales to Israel – even after the killing of seven aid workers in an Israeli airstrike.
Weeks after taking office, Mr Lammy announced the suspension of around 30 of the UK’s 350 arms export licences to Israel amid a “clear risk” they could be used to breach international humanitarian law relating to the treatment of Palestinian detainees and the supply of aid to Gaza.
An early day motion tabled by suspended Labour MP Richard Burgon calling for the suspension of all arms sales to Israel and the ending of imports from Israeli settlements has been signed by 46 MPs, including 20 Labour MPs.