Axios, citing three US sources, reports that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to announce sanctions against the Israeli military’s ‘Netzah Yehuda’ battalion for human rights violations in the occupied West Bank within days.
The news outlet said It would mark the first time the US has imposed sanctions on an Israeli military unit.
The sources told Axios that the sanctions would prevent the battalion and its members from receiving any kind of US military assistance or training.
The male-only Netzah Yehuda battalion was formed in 1999 as a special unit for ultra-orthodox soldiers. Its website states that around a thousand soldiers serve in the unit at any one time.
Axios states that the unit stationed in the West Bank has “became a destination for many ‘Hilltop Youth’ — young radical right-wing settlers who weren’t accepted into any other combat unit”.