At least five Palestinians, including a teenager, have been killed during an Israeli military raid in the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarem. The escalating violence on Friday came as the United States and the European Union imposed more sanctions targeting hardliner Israeli settlers engaged in violence against Palestinians in the occupied territory.
The EU put two “radical” organisations – Lehava and the Hilltop Youth – on its asset freeze and visa ban blacklist for their attacks on Palestinians. It also included Hilltop Youth leaders Meir Ettinger and Elisha Yered, along with settlers Neria Ben Pazi and Yinon Levi. Separately, the US said it was adding Ben-Zion Gopstein, the founder and leader of Lehava, to its own blacklist. Washington also imposed sanctions on two groups involved in raising tens of thousands of dollars for settlers Yinon Levi and David Chai Chasdai, who were targeted in its earlier sanctions, the Treasury Department announced in a statement.
Washington had
previously sanctioned five settlers and two unauthorised outposts in the West Bank in two rounds of sanctions. One entity, Mount Hebron Fund, launched an online fundraising campaign that raised $140,000 for Levi, the Treasury said, after he was sanctioned on February 1 for leading a group of settlers that assaulted Palestinian and Bedouin civilians, burned their fields and destroyed their property. It said the second entity, Shlom Asiraich, raised $31,000 on a crowdfunding website for Chasdai, who the US says initiated and led a riot that included setting vehicles and buildings on fire and causing damage to property in Huwara, resulting in the death of a Palestinian civilian.
“Such acts by these organisations undermine the peace, security, and stability of the West Bank. We will continue to use our tools to hold those responsible accountable,” Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo said.
Al Jazeera