SAFA -  The European Union is moving toward advancing a ban on trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, following discussions among foreign ministers during their monthly council meeting in Brussels.

The talks took place against the backdrop of escalating settler violence and continued expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Speaking after the meeting, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the proposal that received the strongest backing from member states was a ban on trade with "illegal settlements."

"The option that got the most support was banning the trade with illegal settlements," Kallas said, noting that all 27 EU member states consider Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank to be illegal under international law.

Kallas said EU ambassadors had been tasked with advancing the proposal and indicated that an extraordinary meeting could be convened to continue discussions.

She explained that, at the request of the European Council, diplomats had examined several measures aimed at restricting trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.

No final decision has been reached, and the path forward remains uncertain. While some EU member states support stronger measures targeting Israeli settlements, others are unlikely to support actions directed at Israel, leaving several governments undecided on a potential trade ban.

Kallas said the European Council's legal opinion is that trade-related measures require a qualified majority, meaning approval from at least 15 of the EU's 27 member states representing at least 65 percent of the bloc's population. However, she acknowledged that legal experts differ over whether that threshold would apply to a settlement trade ban.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar criticized the proposal, accusing Kallas of leading an "obsessive campaign against Israel." He argued there was neither consensus nor a qualified majority in support of the measure.

The European Union has increasingly debated measures against Israeli settlements as settlement expansion and settler violence in the occupied West Bank have intensified.

Israeli organizations Peace Now and Kerem Navot said in a recent report that the current Israeli government has accelerated the de facto annexation of the occupied West Bank at an unprecedented pace.

Among the measures discussed were stricter export licensing rules, higher tariffs, and partial or full bans on goods produced in Israeli settlements beyond the 1967 borders.

Kallas stressed that the proposed measures are directed at Israeli settlements rather than Israel itself, arguing that settlement expansion undermines the prospects for a two-state solution. She added that EU member states broadly agree that the current situation in the occupied West Bank is "intolerable."