First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth has welcomed the sanctions announced by the UK government on illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The UK government made the decision while accusing Israel's government of turning a blind eye to the "ethnic cleansing" of Palestinians by settlers.

Ap Iorwerth said it was "good to see" the UK part of an international coalition putting "pressure" on the Israeli government.

He said the UK government under Sir Keir Starmer had moved "far too slowly in its response to the illegal activities of the Israeli government".

On Tuesday, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said the sanctions marked the "beginning of a new approach" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which "not only calls out injustice and suffering but acts".

Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar responded by accusing Miliband of spreading an "outrageous lie" and announced counter-measures including shutting the UK's consulate in East Jerusalem.

The UK sanctions will ban settlement goods but also act against companies and individuals providing services for settlement expansion.

Speaking to BBC Wales, the first minister said: "What we have seen in recent years, unfortunately, is the UK government moving far too slowly in its response to [the] illegal activities of the Israeli government.

"We need to see international pressure being brought to bear on the Israeli government.

"It's good to see that an international coalition is building around this."

"This should have happened much, much sooner, but we welcome it as a positive step," ap Iorwerth added.

The Welsh government does not have control over foreign affairs as that power lies with ministers in Westminster.

The UK launched the sanctions alongside France and Canada which, in a joint statement with the UK, said the action "marks a further turning point in our approach to protecting the two-state solution".

There has been a rise in violence towards Palestinians in the West Bank by settlers in recent months.

Settlements are illegal under international law.

Miliband said the official view of the UK government was that the Israeli occupation of the West Bank had been unlawful because of the "entrenchment of its control, its intention to extend permanent sovereignty, and its expansionist agenda via illegal settlements".

He said this position, which was in line with a 2024 advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice, should be reflected in the UK's "economic relationship" with the occupied West Bank.

As a result, over the next six to nine months, the UK would introduce "a new comprehensive sanctions regime", he said.

The UK also issued a joint statement with 11 other countries including Denmark, Spain, Finland, Ireland, Iceland, Norway, Poland, Portugal and Sweden.

It said the group was unequivocally committed to the two-state solution and would introduce national measures or support European restrictions on trading goods with West Bank settlements.

UK Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis criticised the sanctions against Israeli settlements as a "dark day" and "gesture politics" which "ignore the deep concerns" raised by the Jewish community and could harm their safety.

The Conservative Party had also criticised the move, with foreign affairs spokesman Tom Tugendhat claiming UK ministers were "enacting policies that the Foreign Office knows won't work".

The UK announcement came after Israel offered tenders for the construction of some 1,200 settlement homes in the so-called E1 area, a strategically important area east of Jerusalem.

The plans have drawn widespread international condemnation.

Israel has held off on plans to build in the area for decades under global pressure.

Israel has built about 160 settlements housing 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East war.

An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them.

There has been a surge in attacks by settlers on Palestinians and their property in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, which was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023.