UK expected to announce sanctions against Israel over West Bank settlement activity

LONDON, September 8. /TASS/. The UK government is expected to announce sanctions against Israel over settlement activity in the West Bank, The Telegraph reported.

According to the newspaper, the restrictions will be introduced despite criticism from the US administration and some members of the UK’s ruling Labour Party. The sanctions will be discussed at a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Andy Burnham on September 8, after which Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband will make a statement in parliament. The measures will not involve financial restrictions on specific individuals or legal entities but could include a ban on trade with companies operating in West Bank settlements, the article notes.

In June, the UK, together with Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway and France, imposed sanctions in response to "record settlement expansion and rising settler violence in the West Bank." The restrictions targeted one individual and six companies.

According to the human rights organization Peace Now, Israel’s planning authority approved plans in August 2025 to build 3,400 housing units in the E1 area near the large West Bank settlement of Maale Adumim, close to Jerusalem. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich declared on August 8 that year that these actions were intended to "erase the Palestinian state." Smotrich, who also oversees West Bank settlement activity within the Defense Ministry, announced on August 14 that the project to expand the Maale Adumim settlement complex would resume and that new housing would be built in the E1 zone.

In December 2016, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2334 demanding an end to Israeli settlement activity. Israel refused to comply with its provisions.