Foreign ministers of the European Union on Monday approved a new package of sanctions targeting Israeli settlers and organizations linked to violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

The measures, which had long been blocked by Hungary under former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, moved forward after his electoral defeat last month by rival Péter Magyar.

The sanctions were drafted in response to escalating violence and the continued expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Tensions in the territory have sharply increased since the October 7 attacks by Hamas on southern Israel, which killed around 1,200 people.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 45 Palestinians, including 11 children, have been killed in the West Bank in 2026.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas announced the agreement on social media, saying EU ministers had “given the go-ahead to sanction Israeli settlers over violence against Palestinians.” She added that the bloc had also approved new sanctions against leading Hamas figures, stressing that “extremism and violence carry consequences.”

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said the EU was targeting “the main Israeli organizations guilty of supporting the extremist and violent colonization of the West Bank, as well as their leaders.”

“These most serious and intolerable acts must cease without delay,” Barrot stated, while also emphasizing that Hamas “must be disarmed and excluded from any participation in the future of Palestine.”

Israel strongly condemned the EU decision. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar described the sanctions as “arbitrary and political,” saying Israel “firmly rejects the decision to impose sanctions on Israeli citizens and organizations.”

The sanctions reportedly target three settlers and four settler organizations, although the names have not yet been officially disclosed.

The EU previously imposed sanctions in 2024 on four settlers and two entities, including asset freezes and travel bans, over attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank.

Some EU member states are pushing for tougher measures. Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard called for tariffs on products imported from Israeli settlements and sanctions against Israeli ministers supporting settlement expansion.