Sanctions on Israeli settlements have triggered a diplomatic crisis with the United Kingdom and intensified scrutiny of Israel’s conduct in the occupied West Bank, while attacks and the collapse of basic services continued in Gaza.
Twelve countries, including Britain, France and Canada, said on September 8 that they would introduce, support or consider restrictions on goods from Israeli settlements. Britain’s Foreign Secretary, Ed Miliband, told Parliament that the government could no longer “stand by” in the face of what he described as the “ethnic cleansing of Palestinians… perpetrated by settler terrorists”.
Israel responded within 24 hours by ordering the UK to close its consulate in occupied East Jerusalem within 30 days. It also ended British training for Palestinian Authority security forces, removed British staff from the Gaza coordination centre in Kiryat Gat and barred 12 British public figures, including 11 MPs.
Settlement sanctions and claims of de facto annexation
The diplomatic rupture came as reports by Palestinian and Israeli rights organisations described land seizures, settler violence and restrictions on movement in the West Bank as part of a single, advancing process.
Yesh Din, Bimkom and HaMoked said the measures amounted to “de facto annexation”. A separate report by the Israeli rights group B’Tselem described an overarching system driven by what it called the sustained undermining of the conditions that allow Palestinians to exist as an independent collective.
B’Tselem also said settler militias were increasingly operating in coordination and cooperation with official forces, even when they were not acting together directly.
On September 12, a soldier in Faqua, near Jenin, was filmed shooting Qassem Hussam in the leg during a settler incursion on to Palestinian land. Israeli army radio said the incident had taken place “contrary to orders” and that Mr Hussam “posed no threat”.
Palestinian field activists said settlers had beaten five men with metal pipes on the Ramallah-Jericho road the previous day, fracturing one man’s knee. They said soldiers did not intervene, despite the road passing through an area with a heavy army presence.
Israeli forces were also reported to have shot and wounded two Palestinian labourers in Beit Jala on September 13. The following day, forces wounded a young man in Beit Ula, near Hebron, while setting his vehicle on fire, and arrested men in Beit Ummar and Dura.
Israel’s response to criticism has extended beyond its dealings with foreign governments. Culture Minister Miki Zohar said he would seek to revoke the citizenship of filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor after their documentary, “NAZA”, received a Special Jury Prize at Venice and a 25-minute standing ovation.
Mr Zohar called the film “vile” and accused its makers of “treason”. The documentary highlights Israel’s use of artificial-intelligence targeting systems in Gaza.
Gaza hospitals face worsening shortages
While diplomatic tensions mounted, Israeli strikes and gunfire continued in Gaza. During a visit to Ireland, US President Donald Trump said there was “very little happening right now in Gaza”, but attacks were reported throughout the week as humanitarian conditions deteriorated.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on September 12 that if European countries each accepted 20,000 to 30,000 residents of Gaza, “this entire issue would be over”. No such mass departure had taken place, while airstrikes on the territory continued.
Israeli warplanes killed a family of four — a father, mother and their two daughters — at the Beit Lahia housing project on September 10, following two days of air raids that wounded women and children. Israel alleged that the father had been involved in attacks.
The next day, a drone strike near the Sumoud camp in Khan Younis killed Jihad Ismail, 33, and wounded 12 others. On September 12, pregnant woman Iman Shalouf, 27, died from wounds sustained days earlier in Israeli gunfire south of Khan Younis.
An airstrike on a vehicle in Gaza City’s Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood killed two Palestinians and wounded 13 on September 13. The following day, a Palestinian was killed by Israeli gunfire in the al-Mawasi area of Rafah.
Gaza’s Ministry of Health said on September 14 that 73,786 people had been killed and 174,771 wounded since October 2023. It said 1,372 people had been killed since last October’s “ceasefire”.
The territory’s health system was also facing growing shortages of fuel and spare parts. Al-Ahli Arab Hospital said its main generator had failed, suspending its imaging department and leaving northern Gaza without its only functioning CT scanner.
Gaza’s public bus operators’ union said it would stop transporting doctors and nurses from September 16 because of a lack of fuel and replacement parts. The Health Ministry described the decision as “a death sentence” for patient care.
Figures from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs showed that only 13,445 litres of engine oil had been approved for entry into Gaza since March, while nearly 93,000 litres remained pending. The fuel is needed to operate water and sanitation systems as well as hospital generators.
