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The UK government announced sanctions in June 2026 on six entities and one individual involved in financing, enabling and carrying out settler violence in the occupied West Bank, a Foreign Office statement said. Among those targeted was the Farms Association, which provides financial and organisational support to Israeli settler farms and outposts associated with violence and displacement of Palestinians, according to the same release. Coordinated actions with Australia, Canada, France, Norway and New Zealand included asset freezes, travel bans and updated guidance advising businesses against economic activity in illegal settlements, UK officials stated.
A Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture assessment cited by Al Jazeera documented an unprecedented escalation in Israeli violations against the West Bank agricultural sector in 2025, carried out by both soldiers and settlers. The ministry placed overall direct economic losses at more than $103 million, with additional damage to greenhouses, machinery and roads estimated at $2.57 million. The assessment found that these actions disrupted production, marketing and agricultural value chains across rural areas.
Production of dates in Palestinian areas reached 25,300 tons in 2025, up from 22,000 tons a year earlier, according to a field assessment by the Supreme Committee for Estimating Date Production in Palestine. The committee reported that around 16,000 tons were exported to more than 35 countries while the remainder was consumed locally or processed, supporting thousands of families and roughly 7,000 workers in the sector. Palestinian output is concentrated in the Jordan Valley and parts of Gaza, the assessment noted.
The BBC reported that date farmers in the West Bank are weighing the practical impact of the UK sanctions on settler-linked operations that compete in the same export markets. Some farmers described continued challenges from settler activities that restrict access to land and water resources essential for cultivation. The BBC account indicated that many producers question whether sanctions alone will alter established trade patterns for settlement-grown dates.
UN data recorded 1,835 settler attacks on Palestinian communities in the West Bank during 2025, resulting in casualties or property damage across around 280 locations, a UN assessment found. Those incidents led to at least seven Palestinian deaths and 832 injuries, both figures marking a 130 percent increase from the previous year, according to the same UN figures. The UK government has repeatedly cited such rises in violence as justification for its successive sanction packages since 2024.
An investigation by Global Echo determined that nearly 19 percent of Israeli-labeled food shipments entering the EU between 2017 and 2026 originated from West Bank settlements or the Golan Heights, with dates representing a key category. The group examined over 30,000 export documents and cross-referenced them with Israeli farm data, its report stated. Settlement products often receive preferential tariffs and labeling reserved for goods from within Israel’s recognized borders, the investigation showed.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper told the House of Commons that violent settler groups should not profit from land seized from Palestinians. A House of Commons Library briefing from July 2026 noted that the UK maintains settlements are illegal under international law and has paused free trade agreement negotiations with Israel while issuing multiple rounds of targeted sanctions. The cumulative measures have focused on disrupting financial and logistical support for outposts involved in agricultural activities, including date farming, UK statements indicated.
