The UK has announced a sanctions regime targeting Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, accusing Israel’s government of failing to stop what Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband described as the “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians by settlers.

The measures, introduced alongside similar action by France and Canada, will ban goods from settlements and target companies and individuals providing services connected to settlement expansion. The UK also plans to ban advertising for illegal West Bank settlements in the country.

Miliband told MPs that a comprehensive sanctions regime would be introduced over the next six to nine months. He said the measures were directed at settlements and settlement expansion, “not Israel”.

The three countries said the action marked a further turning point in their approach to protecting a two-state solution. The UK also issued a joint statement with 11 other countries that backed national measures or European restrictions on trade in goods from West Bank settlements.

Israeli response

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar rejected Miliband’s accusation as an “outrageous lie”. He announced the closure of the UK consulate in East Jerusalem and said 11 British MPs, including Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott and all five Green Party MPs, would be barred from entering Israel.

Israel also said it would remove British representatives from the International Gaza Support Center in Kiryat Gat and end British activities to train Palestinian Authority forces in the West Bank, which the Israeli government refers to as Judea and Samaria.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said the UK decision would “fall on the wrong side of history” and called it a “gross interference” in the democratic elections of a sovereign nation. He said sanctions would directly harm Palestinians and urged governments to pursue dialogue and cooperation.

Settlement expansion and Gaza allegations

The UK announcement follows Israel’s opening of tenders for about 1,200 settlement homes in the E1 area east of Jerusalem. The plans have drawn international condemnation. Miliband said construction there could make a two-state solution “unviable” by cutting through the heart of a future Palestinian state.

Miliband also said there was increasing evidence that war crimes “appear to have been committed” in Gaza since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. He said legal processes should determine whether violations of international humanitarian law had occurred and that international courts should decide whether Israel had committed genocide.

Israel has rejected allegations of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, saying its forces have operated in accordance with international law.

The UK government’s announcement also included sanctions on the financing wing of Hezbollah and new sanctions on Iran aligned with measures by the United States and European Union.

Israel has built about 160 settlements housing 700,000 Jews since occupying the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East war, according to the source material. About 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them. Settler attacks on Palestinians and their property have increased since the start of the Gaza war, which followed the 7 October 2023 attack.