The U.S. administration imposed sanctions on two Israeli settlement sites in the occupied West Bank today, Thursday, the latest move against settlement activity that the administration says is an obstacle to peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

The website of the Office of Foreign Assets Control at the U.S. Treasury Department showed that the department added two entities, "Moshav Farm" and "Zafis Farm," in addition to three Israeli citizens, to the sanctions list.

The Axios site reported late Wednesday quoting three U.S. officials that the two settlement sites will be targeted by sanctions because they are used as a base for attacks by extremist Israeli settlers on Palestinians.

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden last month imposed sanctions on four Israelis accused of involvement in settler violence in the West Bank, indicating growing U.S. displeasure with the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The administration also said in February that Israel's expansion of settlement construction in the occupied West Bank conflicts with international law, indicating a return to the long-standing U.S. policy on this issue which was reversed by the administration of former President Donald Trump.

Israel has intensified its raids on the West Bank since the outbreak of the latest war in Gaza in October. United Nations records show that at least 358 people have been killed in the Palestinian territories since October 7, a quarter of them children.

The death toll in the Gaza Strip since October 7 has already exceeded 31,000, according to health authorities in the Strip. Israel launched its military campaign after a Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, which Israel says resulted in the death of 1,200 people.