France said on Wednesday that the European Union should consider sanctions against Israeli settlers who attacked Palestinians in the West Bank as an option, and that EU-level talks on sanctions against Hamas commanders were progressing, Reuters reported.

Israeli soldiers in the West Bank village of AruraPhoto: APAImages / Shutterstock Editorial / Profimedia

UN figures show that daily attacks by Israeli settlers have doubled since Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel on October 7 and the subsequent attack on the Palestinian enclave of Gaza. More than 200 Palestinians have been killed in violence this year.

“We believe the international community has an important role to play in ending these acts of violence, which are extremely destabilizing for the region, but also damaging to the prospects for a two-state solution,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre said during the meeting. weekly press conference.

She said no option had been ruled out, including European Union sanctions against violent individuals.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East war and has been under military occupation ever since, while Israeli settlements have steadily expanded.

Palestinians see the West Bank as part of a future independent state that would also include the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.

A French diplomatic source said Paris is in favor of EU sanctions, but debate within the bloc on the issue has not yet begun.

The United States has said it is ready to ban visas to “extremists” who attack civilians in the West Bank.

Sanctions against Hamas

Legendre said Brussels was negotiating sanctions — asset freezes and travel bans — against Hamas commanders.

Work is also underway with European and other allies to cut funding to Hamas, including through the No Money for Terror platform, as well as combating its propaganda on social media.

No Money for Terror is a special coalition created in 2018 to combat terrorist financing.

On November 13, France imposed nationwide sanctions against Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif and his deputy Marwan Issa.

Two diplomats said the aim was to add them to the list of terrorists on which the EU has imposed sanctions. Other people are also being investigated, but court cases will take more time to prepare, they said.