SOUTH HEBRON HILLS, West Bank — For weeks after being sanctioned by the United States, Yinon Levi struggled to pay the bills, living at his farming outpost atop a hill in the occupied West Bank. But the Israeli settler’s problems didn’t last.

When the banks froze his accounts, his community raised thousands of dollars for him, and Israel’s finance minister vowed to intervene on sanctioned settlers’ behalf. Two months after sanctions were issued, Levi was granted access to his money.

“America thought it would weaken us, and in the end, they made us stronger,” Levi, 31, said from his farm in the South Hebron Hills — one of dozens of unauthorized settlement outposts dotting the West Bank.

Levi is among 13 hard-line Israeli settlers — as well as two affiliated outposts and four groups — targeted by international sanctions over accusations of attacks and harassment against Palestinians in the West Bank.

The measures are meant as a deterrent, and they expose people to asset freezes and travel and visa bans.

But the measures have had minimal impact, instead emboldening settlers as attacks and land-grabs escalate, according to Palestinians in the West Bank, local rights groups and sanctioned Israelis.

Sanctions prohibit financial institutions and residents in the issuing country from providing funds to a person or entity. In some cases, property is seized. Even though Israeli banks aren’t obliged to freeze accounts, many do so to maintain relations with banks — particularly for U.S. sanctions — and avoid risk.

But for sanctioned settlers, the implications didn’t last long, with communities donating money and holding fundraisers making tens of thousands of dollars. And Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right settler leader, said he’d “take care of the issue” of people being sanctioned, said Levi’s father-in-law, Noam Federman.

Smotrich said in a text-message statement that sanctions are “a grave mistake by the Biden administration.”

He didn’t address questions about whether he intervened to unfreeze settlers’ accounts. But he said his actions to develop settlements are authorized, and the government is working with “our friends in the U.S.” to cancel or reduce sanctions.

Israel seized the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. Some 500,000 Israelis have settled in the West Bank; the international community largely considers their presence illegal.

But under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition — the most right-wing in Israeli history, with settlers themselves in key positions — expansion has been turbocharged.

Palestinians say expanding Israeli outposts are shrinking their access to land, and settler violence against them has soared since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war with Israel. Land seized through unauthorized outposts has more than doubled since the war started, according to settlement watchdog Kerem Navot.

Palestinians living in small hamlets ringed by hilltop outposts say they fear it’s just a matter of time until they’re forced to leave their homes.

U.S. officials have repeatedly raised concerns about surging settler violence, with President Joe Biden saying it had reached “intolerable levels” when announcing sanctions. Israel has said it’s calling for settlers to stand down and investigating violence. But rights groups accuse the government and army of complicity with the settlers.

In March, even the Israeli army complained about the extent to which the government intervenes on settlers’ behalf. An internal document, seen by The Associated Press and published by The New York Times, said the army is routinely denied authorization to act against illegal building by Israelis and regularly authorized to act against Palestinians.

Three of the sanctioned settlers — Levi, Federman and Elisha Yered — said the measures against them were, at most, an annoyance.

Levi founded Meitarim Farm in 2021 on a hill whose sloping sides give way to lowlands where Bedouin farmers graze sheep. He said he wanted to protect the area from being overtaken by Palestinians.

“Little by little, you feel when you drive on the roads that everyone is closing in on you,” he said. “They’re building everywhere, wherever they want. So you want to do something about it.”

Since then, anti-settlement activists say, more than 300 people from four nearby hamlets have been pushed off their land. Levi said the land is his and denies using violence to chase anyone off.

U.S. officials sanctioned him in February over accusations that from his outpost, he led settlers who assaulted Palestinians and Bedouins, threatened them, burned their fields and destroyed property.

Levi said his Israeli bank froze his accounts — holding nearly $95,000 — and within days, he couldn’t pay his mortgage or children’s school and activities fees.

Friends and relatives donated $12,000 to him through April, he said, when the bank allowed him to withdraw on a controlled basis — he calls for permission and explains each transaction’s purpose.

An online fundraiser by the area’s regional council raised $140,000 for Levi from 3,000 donors worldwide. Following media reporting on the fundraiser, the Mount Hebron Fund was also sanctioned by the United States.

Since regaining access to his money, Levi said, he has never been refused a request.

The bank gave him a monthly limit of $8,000 in withdrawals, he said, but he nearly doubled that in the first few weeks.

In a clarification letter to Israel’s banks in March, the U.S. Treasury said banks can process transactions for sanctioned people for basic needs such as food and health care, provided the transactions don’t involve the U.S. financial system or U.S. residents.

But Levi said he could buy whatever he wanted — he wouldn’t give specifics but said it wasn’t limited to “food or diapers.”

Meanwhile, Palestinians in the West Bank say sanctions are mostly futile.

Eight Palestinians in two hamlets in the South Hebron Hills said they’re still being pushed off their land, with several alleging Levi has threatened them since being sanctioned.

One man said that in February, while out with his sheep, Levi held him at gunpoint, recounted all the places he’d forced people away, and threatened to kill him if he returned.

“He told me, ‘I displaced people from Zanuta to ad-Dhahiriya ... I am from the family of the farm of mad people,’ ” said Ahmed, who spoke on condition that only his first name be used, over retaliation fears.

Levi said the incident never happened.