The United States State Department is poised to sanction the “Netzah Yehuda” battalion within the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) for human rights violations in the West Bank - three US sources with knowledge of the issue told Axios.

 

The sanctions, which are expected to be announced by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a few days, would mark the first time that the United States impose sanctions targeting the “Israeli” army.

 

The “Netzah Yehuda” battalion and its members will be banned from receiving any American military aid or training - per Axios.

 

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The US started investigating the battalion, whose members are all ultra-orthodox men, in late 2022, after committing multiple violations in the West Bank towards Palestinian civilians.

 

One incident in January 2022, involved an 80-year-old man, Omar Asaad, where the “Netzah Yehuda” battalion fighters handcuffed and gagged the man and left him on the ground only to be found dead hours later.

 

“Israeli” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “sanctions must not be imposed on the Israeli Defense Forces!” in a post on his official “X” account.

 

The decision to sanction an IOF unit is “the height of absurdity and a moral low,” he added, “I have been working against the imposition of sanctions on Israeli citizens, including in my conversations with senior American government officials.”