Updated

British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband told Parliament on Tuesday, 8 September 2026, that the United Kingdom would ban all trade and dealings with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, in a speech in which he described the occupation as unlawful and accused "settler terrorists" of carrying out ethnic cleansing of Palestinians with some degree of Israeli government support. The announcement, trailed earlier in the day, came amid an escalating dispute over Israeli settlement expansion, including the contested E1 project near Jerusalem. The measures represent one of the most far-reaching steps taken by a Western government against the settlement enterprise and mark a sharp deterioration in UK-Israel relations under Prime Minister Andy Burnham's government. Israeli settler organisations denounced the move, while Israeli peace groups welcomed it. British officials indicated the scope of the sanctions could still shift depending on the conduct of the next Israeli government, with Israeli elections approaching.