Hamas has called for international sanctions against Israel following a joint condemnation by 18 countries over new Israeli measures in the occupied West Bank. The group described the statement as 'a step in the right direction' in confronting what it called expansionist policies that violate international law.

The condemnation, issued by countries including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, France, and Spain, criticized Israel’s recent initiatives to register land in the West Bank as state property and to allow Israelis to purchase land there directly. The countries said the measures risk advancing de facto annexation and undermining the viability of a future Palestinian state.

Hamas urged the countries involved to impose deterrent sanctions and increase pressure on Israel’s government to halt settlement expansion and what it described as forced displacement. Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, where more than 500,000 Israeli settlers live alongside roughly three million Palestinians, and settlement approvals have accelerated under the current government.