The US state department has announced the first round of sanctions under a new executive order targeting Israeli settlers in the West Bank who have been attacking Palestinians.

In a statement, the department said it is imposing financial sanctions against four Israeli nationals:

• David Chai Chasdai
• Einan Tanjil
• Shalom Zicherman
• Yinon Levi

Chasdai “initiated and led a riot, which involved setting vehicles and buildings on fire, assaulting Palestinian civilians, and causing damage to property in Huwara, which resulted in the death of a Palestinian civilian,” the department said.

Tanjil is said to have assaulted Palestinian farmers and Israeli activists by “attacking them with stones and clubs”, while Zicherman “assaulted Israeli activists and their vehicles in the West Bank, blocking them on the street, and attempted to break the windows of passing vehicles with activists inside.”

The department said Levi led a group of settlers “who engaged in actions creating an atmosphere of fear” in the West Bank, threatening Palestinian and Bedouin civilians with violence if they did not leave their homes, “burned their fields, and destroyed their property.”

Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has said the vast majority of West Bank settlers as “law-abiding citizens” and described Joe Biden’s executive order sanctioning settler extremists as “drastic”.

A statement from the Israeli prime minister’s office says:

"Israel takes action against all law-breakers everywhere, and therefore there is no need for drastic steps on this matter."