EU's Borrell: hoping for agreement on sanctions on Hamas, violent West Bank settlers

The European Union's foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell said on Monday that he was confident the EU would find an agreement on Monday to impose sanctions on both Hamas and violent Israeli West Bank settlers.

The European Union's foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell said on Monday that he was confident the EU would find an agreement on Monday to impose sanctions on both Hamas and violent Israeli West Bank settlers. "It seems that today all will agree on putting sanctions on both Hamas and the violent settlers who are harassing Palestinians in the West Bank," he told reporters ahead of a foreign ministers meeting in Brussels.

The EU is close to agreeing sanctions on Israeli settlers attacking Palestinians in the West Bank after Hungary signalled an end to its opposition, European diplomats said on Friday. While much international attention has focused on Hamas's cross-border assault from Gaza and Israel's subsequent war there, European officials have also expressed increasing concern about rising violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.

But the EU's 27 member countries have struggled to agree sanctions against those responsible, even after the United States and Britain imposed such measures. Some EU members close to Israel, such as Germany and Austria, had said they were ready to approve sanctions on violent settlers after more had been imposed on Hamas, the Palestinian militant group.

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