UK considers sanctioning 2 ultranationalist Israeli Cabinet ministers

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the U.K. government is considering sanctioning two ultranationalist Israeli Cabinet ministers.

Starmer said “we are looking at” imposing sanctions on Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. He said the pair had made “abhorrent” comments about the situation in Gaza and the West Bank.

Britain, France and Algeria have called a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday on the humanitarian situation in northern Gaza, which Starmer called “dire.”

“Israel must take all possible steps to avoid civilian casualties, to allow aid into Gaza in much greater volumes, and provide the U.N. humanitarian partners the ability to operate effectively,” Starmer said in the House of Commons.

David Cameron, who was foreign secretary in the previous Conservative government until its defeat in the U.K.’s July election, said Tuesday that while in office he was working on a plan to sanction Smotrich and Ben-Gvir over their support for blocking aid from entering the Gaza Strip and expanding illegal Israeli settlements there and in the occupied West Bank.

The sanctions were not put in place before Britain’s snap election was called.