The European Union said it had agreed to impose sanctions on radical Israeli settlers in the West Bank for the first time for acts of violence against Palestinians.
According Reuters, the European Union Council disclosed this in a statement on Friday.
The agreement was finalized on Friday by a written procedure that allows member states to make decisions on urgent matters without sending ministers to Brussels.
The sanctions target four people and two organizations responsible for violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, diplomats say.
The entities listed are Lehava, a radical right-wing Jewish supremacist group, and Hilltop Youth, the European Union Council said in a statement.
Two leading figures of Hilltop Youth, Meir Ettinger and Elisha Yered, are also listed, it added.
Those subject to sanctions would no longer be allowed to enter the EU or do business with EU citizens, and any assets or accounts they have in the EU will be frozen.
The measures were imposed under an EU sanctions regime designed to punish human rights abuses.
Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East war and the area has been under military occupation since, while Israeli settlements have consistently expanded. Palestinians envisage the West Bank as part of a future independent state also including Gaza and East Jerusalem.
