London: The UK on Tuesday said it imposed sanctions that target what it classifies as the persistent cycle of serious violence undertaken by extremist Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank and paused ongoing Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations with Israel.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the situation in the region as “utterly intolerable”, reiterating calls for a ceasefire and a massive scale-up in humanitarian assistance for those impacted in Gaza.

It came as the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) summoned Israeli ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely over the renewed ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, which Tel Aviv claims is aimed at dismantling the Hamas extremist group.

“We’re horrified by the escalation from Israel. We repeat our demand for a ceasefire as the only way to free the hostages,” said Starmer.

“We repeat our opposition to settlements in the West Bank and our demand to massively scale up humanitarian assistance into Gaza,” he said.

Starmer’s parliamentary statement was followed by Foreign........

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