EU Sanctions Settlers and Hamas Leaders After Hungary Lifts Veto

The European Union on Monday 11 May 2026 reached unanimous political agreement to impose new sanctions on the leadership of Hamas and on the Israeli settler movement in the occupied West Bank, ending a deadlock that had paralysed the file for over a year.

“From deadlock to delivery”

The agreement was struck at the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels and announced by High Representative Kaja Kallas. “Today, we reached a political agreement to sanction Israeli extremist settlers and entities,” Kallas told reporters. “We move from political deadlock that was there for a long time. Violence and extremism carry consequences.” In an earlier post on X, Kallas confirmed the measures — including asset freezes and travel bans — would also target members of Hamas, which the EU designates as a terrorist organisation, a condition required by some Member States to support the package.

What and who is sanctioned

The package targets three Israeli settlers and four settler organisations, with identities not yet publicly disclosed. The Hamas tier sanctions the political and military leadership responsible for the 7 October 2023 attack. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot wrote on social media that the EU was “sanctioning the main leaders of Hamas, responsible for the worst antisemitic massacre in our history since the Shoah during which 51 French people lost their lives, a terrorist movement that must imperatively be disarmed and excluded from any participation in the future of Palestine.” Barrot added: “These most serious and intolerable acts must cease without delay.”

Hungary drops the veto

The unblocking came after Hungary’s new government dropped Budapest’s long-standing veto on settler sanctions, which had been imposed under former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Several Member States had pushed for the measure for over a year amid what UN Human Rights spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan recently described as Israel’s “unlawful settlement expansion” and the “annexation of large parts of the occupied West Bank.” The decision follows two months of escalating violence against Palestinians in the territory.

Stopping short of economic measures

The 27-nation bloc nevertheless stopped short of endorsing stronger economic measures against the Israeli government, sought by some Member States including Ireland, Spain and Belgium. Discussion of a full suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement was deferred. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the symmetry between Israel and Hamas drawn by some EU diplomats, calling the bloc “morally bankrupt.”

Technical and legal work ahead

The decision is, at this point, a political agreement. Technical and legal work must still be completed before the sanctions are formally adopted and published in the Official Journal. The EU had already imposed sanctions on violent settlers in 2024, when the bloc sanctioned five individuals and three entities “responsible for serious and systematic human rights abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank,” including Moshe Sharvit in the Jordan Valley. Monday’s decision broadens that footprint substantially and, for the first time, attaches names to the Hamas leadership in a CFSP designation framework.