The US has called on Israel to take action against violent settler groups in the occupied West Bank.

The US State Department has said it will impose visa restrictions on Israeli settlers who are involved in undermining peace, security or stability in the occupied West Bank.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the move on Tuesday, a day after the State Department said Israel had not taken sufficient steps to address it Settler attacks which have driven many Palestinians from their country.

“Today, the State Department is introducing a new visa restriction policy targeting individuals believed to have been involved in undermining peace, security, or stability in the West Bank, including through the commission of acts of violence or other actions that are detrimental to the West Bank “Unreasonably restrict civilians’ access to essential services and basic needs,” Blinken said.

President Joe Biden and other senior U.S. officials have repeatedly warned that Israel must act to stop Israeli settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, which has increased since the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7.

“We have emphasized to the Israeli government the need to do more to hold accountable extremist settlers who have carried out violent attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank,” Blinken said.

Blinken did not announce individual visa bans, but department spokesman Matthew Miller said the bans would be implemented starting Tuesday and would affect “dozens” of settlers and their families, with more to come. For reasons of confidentiality, he did not provide a number or identify any of the targets.

Israeli settler violence has long targeted Palestinian communities in the West Bank, and attacks have increased in the last year as Israel’s far-right government, which itself includes ultranationalist settlers, signals support.

Today I announced a new visa restriction policy aimed at individuals and their family members who are involved in or meaningfully contribute to actions that undermine peace, security and stability in the West Bank. Violence against civilians will have consequences.

– Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) December 5, 2023

The settler attacks escalated amid the ongoing war in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian armed group Hamas, which launched a deadly attack on southern Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people 240 more as hostages.

Following the attack, Israel launched a devastating assault on Gaza, killing more than 16,200 people and displacing more than 1.5 million others, according to Palestinian officials.

Since the Oct. 7 attack, Israeli settlers in the West Bank have killed at least nine Palestinians, three times more than in all of 2022, and attacks Attacks on Palestinian villages and farmers have become commonplace.

While Palestinian attacks on Israeli settlers and soldiers in the West Bank are typically met with harsh retaliation from Israeli forces, accountability for attacks is enforced Israeli settlers against Palestinians, which often take place under the eyes of Israeli soldiers, are extremely rare.

Palestinians have described the settlers’ violence as part of a larger Israeli effort to drive them from their land.

In 2018, Israel passed a controversial law called “ Nation-state law which, among other things, described Jewish settlement efforts as a “national value” that the state would “promote and encourage.”