The United States has imposed sanctions on an Israeli settler group and a civilian security coordinator in the occupied West Bank amid escalating violence against Palestinians in the region. The sanctions, announced on Wednesday, target Hashomer Yosh, which describes itself as a volunteer organization aimed at “protecting” Israeli farmers in the West Bank, as well as Yitzhak Levi Filant, the civilian security coordinator for the Yitzhar settlement located south of Nablus.

The U.S. Department of State stated that “extremist violence from settlers in the West Bank causes severe human suffering, undermines Israel’s security, and jeopardizes prospects for peace and stability in the region.” It was also noted that earlier this year, Hashomer Yosh fenced off the Palestinian village of Khirbet Zanuta, preventing displaced residents from returning to their homes.

According to several Israeli media reports, Hashomer Yosh has received financial support from the Israeli government. Washington also accused Filant of being involved in wrongful activities, including setting up roadblocks and conducting patrols in previous months “to pursue and attack Palestinians on their own lands and force them to leave.” The sanctions freeze Filant’s and Hashomer Yosh’s assets in the U.S. and prohibit American citizens from engaging in financial transactions with them.

For years, Hashomer Yosh has been able to raise funds in the U.S. through platforms such as JGive, a website that collects donations for groups certified by the Israeli government as charitable organizations. Hashomer Yosh’s page on JGive was reportedly disabled on Wednesday; however, the website has not immediately responded to requests for comment.

These sanctions come just a day after a settler attack resulted in the death of a Palestinian and injuries to three others near Bethlehem. Earlier in August, violent settlers also destroyed the village of Jit in northern West Bank, where a 23-year-old man lost his life. The raid on Jit provoked international outrage and even verbal condemnation from Israeli officials, though Israel rarely prosecutes settlers for violence against Palestinians.

Palestinian human rights advocates also assert that settler attacks often occur in the presence—if not in collaboration—with Israeli soldiers in the area. The organization Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), an American rights group that has previously called for sanctions against Filant, welcomed Wednesday’s measures and urged punishment against Israeli officials involved in settler violence.

“Hitting the notorious Yitzhar security officer, Filant, is an important step in recognizing the institutional and state support for settler violence,” said Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man, DAWN’s director of research for Israel-Palestine, in a statement. “Sanctions will never stop settler violence unless they start targeting the state institutions and politicians that treat the settlers as instruments of their expansionist policies.”

This year, the U.S. and some of its Western European allies have imposed sanctions on several violent settlers, whom they describe as “extremists.” However, the administration under President Joe Biden has maintained its strong support for Israel, with Washington approving a $20 billion arms deal to Israel earlier this month. On Wednesday, the Israeli military launched a significant offensive in the West Bank, resulting in at least ten deaths.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz called on Wednesday for a “temporary evacuation of Palestinian civilians” in the West Bank to facilitate military operations, raising fears that Israel is planning mass displacement in the area. A large segment of the international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank to be illegal. The settlement efforts in the territory captured by Israel in 1967 violate the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits an occupying power from transferring “parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” The Biden administration has stated that the settlements are “inconsistent with international law.”