An Arab human rights non-governmental organisation (NGO) has filed a request for United Kingdom sanctions to be lodged against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over “incitement to violence and genocide against Palestinians” in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

British law firm Deighton Pierce Glynn filed the request on Tuesday with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office on behalf of the Arab Organisation for Human Rights UK (AOHR UK), seeking targeted financial and travel sanctions against the Israeli leader.

The submission argues that there are reasonable grounds to apply sanctions on Netanyahu, including previous statements he has made rejecting a Palestinian state and “religiously framed genocidal rhetoric such as invoking biblical references to the destruction of the ‘Amalek’”.

The “Amalek” is known in Jewish tradition as representing pure evil, but it is used by the Israeli far right to describe and justify the mass annihilation of Palestinians.

According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, at least 71,551 people have been killed and 171,372 others wounded since Israel began its genocidal war in October 2023.

Last year, a United Nations inquiry found that statements from Netanyahu and Israel’s top leadership had amounted to the ” incitement to commit genocide” in Gaza during the war.

The submission adds that sanctions should be applied to Netanyahu over his responsibility for “unlawful military operations in Gaza” as he is the country’s highest-ranking official.

Read More: Sanctions request against Netanyahu filed by UK lawyers, rights group