The US state department has imposed sanctions on Tsav 9, “a violent, extremist Israeli group”, for blocking convoys taking humanitarian aid to Gaza, and attacking trucks.
The US said Tsav 9 activists began blockading a key crossing, Kerem Shalom, at the start of the year, and later set trucks on fire and injured drivers and Israel Defense Forces soldiers, as hunger spread inside Gaza.
“For months, individuals from Tzav 9 have repeatedly sought to thwart the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, including by blockading roads, sometimes violently,” a spokesperson, Matthew Miller, said in a statement. “They also have damaged aid trucks and dumped life-saving humanitarian aid on to the road.”
Miller detailed an attack in mid-May when Tsav 9 members “looted and then set fire to two trucks near Hebron, in the West Bank, carrying humanitarian aid destined for men, women and children in Gaza”.
Tsav 9 said the sanctions were “shocking”, and “go against any American and liberal values”. The group’s statement repeated unsourced claims that Hamas diverted “much” of the aid transferred to Gaza, and claimed the group represents families of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
The group’s actions sparked outrage internationally, but inside Israel there is widespread support for their opposition to aid shipments into Gaza.
Earlier this year, several polls found a majority of Israelis believed humanitarian shipments into the strip should be halted or limited.
At the start of the year, two war cabinet members, who have since stepped down, suggested putting temporary limits on aid to weaken Hamas, Israeli media reported.
It was not immediately clear how imposing sanctions would affect individuals linked to Tsav 9, which is an informal campaign organisation, and how many of those who joined its actions might be affected.
The sanctions are the latest in several rounds of restrictions imposed under a broad executive order announced by President Joe Biden in February, which allows the US to penalise actions that “threaten the peace, security or stability of the West Bank”.
Friday’s statement also appeared to take aim at the Israeli government, saying it had a “responsibility to ensure the safety and security of humanitarian convoys transiting Israel and the West Bank en route to Gaza”.
Videos showed Israeli security forces watching without intervening as the group attacked trucks. The group said that individual members of Israel’s security forces had tipped them off about the location of aid trucks delivering vital supplies to Gaza.
In recent weeks, convoys have been protected by unarmed Israeli counter-protesters from the grassroots action group Standing Together forming human shields.
The US state department said: “The provision of humanitarian assistance is vital to preventing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza from worsening and to mitigating the risk of famine. We will not tolerate acts of sabotage and violence targeting this essential humanitarian assistance.”
The sanctions on Tsav 9 mark the latest increase of the international sanction campaign against settler and extremist violence which has exploded on the occupied West Bank, after a previous round in April.
Initially taken as a mostly political rebuke to extremists, they are now seen by some inside Israel as a much broader threat.