The US has stepped up efforts to target violent Israeli settlers, adding new individuals and organisations to a growing sanctions list.
This came as at least 10 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank in Israeli military raids and airstrikes.
The latest sanction targets included Hashomer Yosh, an Israeli group that has supported the unauthorized settler outpost of Meitarim Farm in the south Hebron Hills.
A US state department statement said, “After all 250 Palestinian residents of Khirbet Zanuta were forced to leave in late January, Hashomer Yosh volunteers fenced off the village to prevent the residents from returning.”
It added that the US is also imposing sanctions against Yitzhak Levi Filant, who is accused of leading armed settlers in setting up roadblocks and patrols “to pursue and attack Palestinians in their lands and forcefully expel them from their lands.”
US State Department Spokesperson, Matthew Miller noted that extremist settler violence in the West Bank causes “intense human suffering, harms Israel’s security, and undermines the prospect for peace and stability in the region.”
“It is critical that the Government of Israel hold accountable any individuals and entities responsible for violence against civilians in the West Bank,” he added.
It is believed that the US is also sending a strong message through these sanctions that it is not going to tolerate this kind of violence and taking action through whatever means it can to send a message to the Israeli government that it, too, should hold individuals accountable.
Meanwhile, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) says Israel’s assaults on the occupied West Bankrisk “seriously deepening” an already “catastrophic situation” there.
OHCHR spokesperson, Ravina Shamdasani said in a statement that the 637 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank since October 7 represents the highest death toll over a comparable period in two decades and Israeli forces have ramped up abuses already endemic to the occupation.
“Thousands of Palestinians have been arbitrarily arrested and tortured, subjected to unrelenting settler violence, severe restrictions on movement and expression, their homes and property destroyed or seized, and forcibly displaced.”
Ravina Shamdasani
Shamdasani added, “Israel, as the occupying power, must abide by its obligations under international law.”
Abbas Cuts Saudi Arabia Trip Short
Following the launch of a large-scale Israeli military operation in the West Bank, the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, cut short his visit to Saudi Arabia to return to Ramallah.
According to the official Palestinian news agency, Abbas decided to cut short his visit to Saudi Arabia “due to Israel’s escalating aggression in the northern West Bank.”
Abbas began an official visit to Saudi Arabia on Monday where he held talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh.
It was reported that the pair discussed Palestinian and Arab efforts to stop the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank, including Jerusalem.
Israel’s Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, said the operations in the West Bank overnight, which killed at least 10 Palestinians, were intended to “thwart Islamic-Iranian terrorist infrastructures.”
In a post on X, Katz wrote, “Iran is working to establish an eastern terrorist front against Israel in the West Bank, according to the Gaza and Lebanon model, by financing and arming terrorists and smuggling advanced weapons from Jordan.”
He suggested that evacuation orders for civilians should be issued for the West Bank, of the sort used to empty districts before Israeli military operations in Gaza.
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