In an unprecedented move in Israel-UK relations, Britain will place sanctions on senior Israeli officials. The Times of London reported on Tuesday that Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich and Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir will face formal sanctions for their comments about Gaza.
Britain – joined by Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries – will enact asset freezes and travel restrictions on Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir and Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich on Tuesday.
The sanctions ban Smotrich and Ben-Gvir from entering the country or dealing with British financial institutions, similar to what senior Russians have faced due to the war in Ukraine.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar said that "we were informed about UK decision to include two of our ministers on the British sanctions list. It is outrageous that elected representatives and members of the government are subjected to this kind of measures." He added that after his discussion with Prime Minister Netanyahu, it was decided that "we will hold a special government meeting early next week to decide on our response to this unacceptable decision."
In 2024, Ben-Gvir said, "We must encourage emigration. Encourage the voluntary emigration of the residents of Gaza." Smotrich recently said no aid should come to Gaza, ""Not even a grain of wheat will enter Gaza." At an Israel Hayom conference in August 2024, Smotrich said, humanitarian aid should be limited because it is a lifeline for the Hamas terror organization, which was holding 115 Israelis hostages at the time. He said, "We bring in aid because there is no choice. We can't, in the current global reality, manage a war. Nobody will let us cause two million civilians to die of hunger, even though it might be justified and moral, until our hostages are returned."
Foreign Secretary David Lammy had earlier indicated that sanctions were forthcoming due to the ministers' statements, which he labeled "monstrous." Addressing the House of Commons last month, he declared.
"We are now entering a dark new phase in this conflict. Netanyahu's government is planning to drive Gazans from their homes into a corner of the strip to the south and permit them a fraction of the aid that they need. "Yesterday, minister [Bezalel] Smotrich even spoke of Israeli forces cleansing Gaza, destroying what's left of residents, Palestinians being relocated, he said, to third countries." He continued, saying, "We must call this what it is. It is extremism. It is dangerous. It is repellent. It is monstrous and I condemn it in the strongest possible terms."
In May, leaders of the United Kingdom, France, and Canada issued a stern rebuke of Israel's intensified military operations in Gaza, calling the humanitarian crisis "intolerable" and urging an immediate halt to the offensive, according to a joint statement published on the UK government's website. The statement, released on May 19, 2025, also demanded that Israel allow unrestricted humanitarian aid into Gaza and condemned inflammatory rhetoric from Israeli officials suggesting forced displacement of civilians.
Several days later the British government imposed sanctions against key figures in the Israeli settlement movement in Judea and Samaria, as well as Israeli construction companies operating in the region.
