On Feb. 1, the U.S. imposed sanctions on Israeli settler Yinon Levi, locking him out of the international economic system and spurring Israeli banks to freeze his accounts.

The State Department accused Levi of leading fellow Israeli settlers in the West Bank occupied Palestinian territory claimed by Israel in attacking Palestinians, destroying their property and driving them from their villages. Levi was little-known internationally, but video and press reports appeared to show him engaging in brutality the U.S. had said it would punish. (Levi denied wrongdoing and said he was never involved in an attack.)

Now his case is drawing additional attention as potential proof a new executive order from President Joe Biden could help de-escalate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by undercutting Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which would be the heart of any future Palestinian state.

Levi is one of four Israelis sanctioned under the new order , which allows the U.S. to impose sanctions on individuals and entities linked to violence in the West Bank reprimands which have a sweeping effect because the policy states that once they are imposed, any banks or other entities that do business with them could face U.S. sanctions themselves. It gives the government new powers to halt the flow of hundreds of millions in tax-exempt dollars from U.S. nonprofits to settlers seeking to displace Palestinians, and to put massive pressure on the Israeli government to alter its settlement policy.

The Biden administration will sanction more individuals under the order soon, finalizing its decision in the coming days, a U.S. official told HuffPost. The official said the sanctions will be similar to the first round and will be agreed upon following a meeting of the National Security Councils deputies committee next week. (A State Department spokesperson declined to comment on the revelation.)

The additional step will follow another striking shift on settlers from the U.S. On Friday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken called West Bank settlements illegal under international law. While that is indisputable, the Biden administration had previously abided by former President Donald Trumps policy of treating the settlements as legal, which broke with pre-Trump U.S. practice.

The possible consequences of the initial round of sanctions demonstrate how the order and Bidens seeming focus on challenging settlements could spur sweeping progress.

Most settlers receive some degree of support from the Israeli state: Levi built his illegal outpost in collaboration with a subsidiary of an Israeli government body called the Har Hebron Regional Council, which oversees settlers around the West Bank city of Hebron, The Times of Israel reported . The outpost already violated Israeli law. Now that Levi is under American sanctions, that council is at risk, and so are its partners stateside, like a Brooklyn-based nonprofit called The Hebron Fund, which sends money from American citizens to support settlers in Hebron.

Thats why its a Death Star, Hadar Susskind, president of Americans for Peace Now, a nonprofit supporting a two-state solution for Israel-Palestine, said of Bidens executive order. You have to aim it. You have to decide when youre going to use it. But it has the potential to disintegrate the settlement enterprise.

Peace Now, the Israeli anti-settlement movement that partners with Susskinds group, on Feb. 13 wrote to U.S. ambassador to Israel Jack Lew, saying it was launching a center for compiling reports of settler violence that it would share with the U.S. and the Israeli public. The effort which has not previously been reported is being run in partnership with the Israeli human rights group Looking Occupation in the Eye. The Palestinian Authority, which controls some portions of the West Bank, also flags settler attacks for U.S. officials.

I certainly hope that the U.S. will continue this active route against settler violence, said Lior Amihai, Peace Nows executive director. There are many more violent settlers than the four sanctioned, and there are groups and leaders who should have to take responsibility for their contribution and enabling settler violence.

The policy could also help Biden ameliorate the widespread perception that he has little regard for Palestinian lives, a product of his largely unchecked support for Israels deadly ongoing military offensive in the Gaza Strip, which has so far killed at least 29,000 Palestinians. A demonstrable shift could bolster Bidens bid to end the war and promote future stability in Israel-Palestine; amid the fighting in Gaza, settlers backed by the Israeli state have unleashed their deadliest wave of violence against West Bank Palestinians since Israel took over the territory.