Australia on Thursday imposed financial sanctions and travel bans on seven settlers and the Hilltop Youth, saying they were involved in terrorist attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank.

Foreign Minister Penny Wang said in a statement that the Hilltop Youth "were responsible for inciting and committing violence against Palestinians, while settlers were involved in incidents of beatings, sexual assault, torture and in some cases murder."

The settlers who were sanctioned by Australia are: Yinon Levy, Zvi Bar-Yosef, Neria Ben-Bazi, Elisha Yard, David Hai Hasdai, Einan Tangel, and Meir Ettinger.

Wang called on Israel to "hold perpetrators of settler violence accountable and halt its ongoing settlement activity, which only serves to inflame tensions and undermine stability and the prospects for a two-state solution."

The Australian government's move comes after Britain, the United States, Canada and Japan imposed sanctions on some Israeli settlers in response to violence in the West Bank.

The Israeli embassy in Australia claimed that its government condemns violence against Palestinians, and an embassy spokesman claimed that "Israel is a state of law and will work to bring the extremist minority to justice," which the Israeli authorities do not do in the vast majority of settler terrorist attacks.

Settler terrorism in the West Bank has escalated as the Israeli war on Gaza continues.

Australia affirms that all settlements built on occupied Palestinian territory are illegal and an obstacle to peace.