ISTANBUL

Israel denounced on Tuesday a British government decision to pause free trade agreement negotiations and impose sanctions on illegal settlers over violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

“Even prior to today’s announcement, the free trade agreement negotiations were not being advanced at all by the current UK government,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry called the UK sanctions against illegal Israeli settlers “unjustified and regrettable.”

“The British Mandate ended exactly 77 years ago,” the statement said.

The UK on Tuesday imposed sanctions on three Israeli individuals, including settler leader Daniella Weiss, two illegal settler outposts, and two organizations supporting violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. The sanctions include financial restrictions, travel bans, and director disqualifications.

London also suspended negotiations for a free trade agreement with Tel Aviv.

The measures follow a dramatic surge in Israeli settler violence in the West Bank, with the UN recording over 1,800 attacks by illegal settlers against Palestinian communities since January 2024.

“We have suspended negotiations with this Israeli government on a new free trade agreement. We will be reviewing cooperation with them under the 2030 bilateral roadmap,” UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy told Parliament.

“The Netanyahu government’s actions have made this necessary.”

Lammy said the sanctions demonstrate London’s determination “to hold extremist settlers to account as Palestinian communities suffer violence and intimidation at the hands of extremist settlers.”

Israel's actions are “morally unjustifiable, wholly disproportionate. No matter what Israel claims, this is not how you bring hostages home,” he added.

The foreign secretary said that Israeli Ambassador in London, Tzipi Hotovely, has also been summoned over Israel’s decision to expand its ongoing onslaught in the Gaza Strip.

Middle East minister Hamish Falconer will tell Hotovely that "the 11-week block on aid to Gaza has been cruel and indefensible,” he said.

At least 969 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in attacks by the Israeli army and illegal settlers in the occupied West Bank since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, the Health Ministry said.

The International Court of Justice declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land illegal last July and demanded the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.