The Biden administration is expected to impose new sanctions on two illegal outposts in the West Bank that were used as a base for attacks by “extremist” settlers against Palestinians, Axios reported Wednesday, citing three US officials.
The sanctions, expected to be imposed as soon as Thursday, are intended to send a message that the US is not only targeting individuals but also entities involved in providing logistical and financial support for attacks against Palestinians, Axios said citing one US official.
New sanctions will also be imposed on three settlers, the US officials told Axios.
The US State Department did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the Axios report.
The Biden administration in February had imposed sanctions on four Israelis it accused of being involved in settler violence in the West Bank.
Last month, a US official and a second source familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel that a second round of sanctions was expected.
The expected announcement of sanctions would be a further demonstration of the lack of US trust in Israeli law enforcement, which rarely succeeds in prosecuting Israeli suspects while Palestinians are convicted of attacks against Israelis at far higher rates.
Israel faces increasing international pressure to crack down on settler violence, with both the United States and the United Kingdom recently slapping sanctions on extremist settlers alleged to have carried out attacks on Palestinians.
The violence spiked after the October 7 massacre carried out by the Hamas terror group in southern Israel, in which some 1,200 people were slaughtered and 253 were taken hostage, but violence was already on the rise before then, according to watchdogs.
In October, the Shin Bet warned the government that the increase in settler attacks may cause an eruption of violence committed by Palestinians.
The West Bank has been under Israeli military rule since the 1967 Six Day War, while the Palestinian Authority has controlled parts of the territory since 1994. About 490,000 settlers live among approximately three million Palestinians in the West Bank in settlements that are widely considered illegal under international law.
Additionally, the Biden administration said in February that Israel’s expansion of settlements in the West Bank was inconsistent with international law, signaling a return to long-standing US policy on the issue that had been reversed by the previous administration of Donald Trump.
The US announcement came hours after Israel announced a plan to advance the construction of thousands of new settlement homes in response to a terror shooting in the West Bank.
The swiftness of the US move highlighted Washington’s ever-shrinking patience with Israel’s policy in the West Bank, as the Biden administration continues to come under fire from progressives at home and many allies abroad over its broad support for Israel in the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.