‘They just want to bury him': West Bank village devastated as Israel holds onto body of slain activist
The village, facing encroachment from dozens of illegal Israeli settlers backed by police and bulldozers, was rocked by a killing on Monday that has left residents reeling and isolated.
Awdah Hathaleen, a 31-year-old teacher, father-of-three and local community leader, was standing by a fence in the Umm al-Khair community centre when he was shot in the chest by an Israeli settler.
An Israeli settler just shot Odeh Hadalin in the lungs, a remarkable activist who helped us film No Other Land in Masafer Yatta. Residents identified Yinon Levi, sanctioned by the EU and US, as the shooter. This is him in the video firing like crazy.
pic.twitter.com/xH1Uo6L1wN
— Yuval Abraham יובל אברהם (@yuval_abraham)
July 28, 2025
Hathaleen fell to the ground as people rushed over to try to help him.
An ambulance then came from the nearby illegal Israeli settlement of Carmel and took him to the Soroka Medical Centre in Be'er Sheva, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
After the shooting, Israeli authorities declared Umm al-Khair and its surroundings a closed military zone, sealing off all access.
Umm al-Khair is one of many Palestinian communities in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where some three million Palestinians live alongside roughly 500,000 Israeli settlers.
All settlements in the territory, occupied since 1967, are considered illegal under international law.
Awdah's body has not been returned to his family for burial, a delay residents say violates Islamic customs and has added to the community's distress.
His brother revealed that several community members have begun a hunger strike, protesting the Israeli authorities' refusal to return his body for burial.
'It's devastating,' said a relative of Awdah. 'I've brought two daughters into this world, but I don't know how I can go on.'
Locals gathered in the Umm al-Khair community centre.
ISM
ISM
Hathaleen was well-known across the region and internationally for his activism and work on the
Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land
, which tells the story of life under occupation in the West Bank.
He also taught English at Al-Saray'a Secondary School.
'He's irreplaceable'
Edi, a spokesperson for the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), arrived in Umm al-Khair the day after the shooting.
The ISM, a Palestinian-led organisation that supports nonviolent resistance in the West Bank and Gaza, described Adwah as a 'dear friend' in a statement.
'The loss is indescribable,' Edi said.
'He had this sort of limitless energy. All the international visitors who came here met Awdah – he was the one who welcomed them, who helped them understand what life is like here. Most of them fell in love with him.'
There's so much despair here, it blew me away.
Awdah, an activist himself since he was a teenager, hosted scores of foreign activists over the years, helping them navigate the realities of occupation while offering hospitality that, as Edi put it, 'defined him'.
He leaves behind three children; Five-year-old Watan, four-year-old Muhammad, and baby Kinan, who is just 7 months old.
'They were loved dearly,' Edi said.
Edi, who has visited the village before, said he has 'never seen conditions this bad.'
'They just want to bury him,' he said of the grieving community.
Fatal shooting
The killing on Monday followed a confrontation that began a day earlier.
According to ISM and eyewitnesses, a settler-operated excavator entered Umm al-Khair to reach the Carmel settlement.
Villagers had agreed to allow its passage, on condition no local infrastructure would be damaged.
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But the machinery ran over a vital water pipe and continued rolling toward village land.
When residents tried to intervene, the operator allegedly struck one man in the head with the excavator's claw, leaving him semi-conscious.
Awdah, standing just metres away in the courtyard of the Umm al-Khair community centre, was shot by an Israeli settler amid the chaos that followed.
Witnesses said settler Yinon Levi, who has been sanctioned by the US and UK for inciting violence, fired the fatal shot.
Since the shooting, Edi said Israeli authorities have arrested 18 Palestinians, including 16 from Umm al-Khair, many during overnight raids.
Images have been shared by the community of the 16 men arrested since the murder of Adwah.
ISM
ISM
'We all feel very helpless when they come in the night, go door-to-door, and take everybody. It leaves us feeling hopeless,' Edi said.
Those arrested include several of Awdah's relatives and young men active in non-violent resistance.
'They're targeting the very people who helped keep the protests peaceful,' he said.
'It feels like an attempt to dismantle the community leadership. We were worried that they may have been clearing the way to destroy the village itself.'
Since Monday, a number of those arrested have been released, though six remain detained by Israeli authorities.
Yinon Levi was released to house arrest by a court in Jerusalem just one day after the shooting.
Village in crisis
Umm al-Khair lies in Area C of the West Bank, territory fully controlled by Israel under the Oslo Accords.
Around 300,000 Palestinians live there alongside roughly 400,000 Israeli settlers.
The village, which has a population of roughly 150 people, has long been at the front lines of settlement expansion and settler violence, and faces the relentless growth of a bordering Israeli settlement, Carmel.
Edi explained that Carmel has grown in recent years, which now 'completely envelopes the village'.
'It does feel like the people are completely under siege,' Edi explained.
'The entrance to the village can be closed, while the Israeli army can come and go from inside the settlement whenever they want.
'Much of the villagers' time is spent securing water, electricity, and caring for livestock.'
An Israeli bulldozer spotted near the village community centre today.
ISM
ISM
Human rights activists and reporters have criticised the lack of amenities for the villagers, while settlers nearby enjoy what The New York Times in 2010 described as 'a lovely green oasis that looks like an American suburb.'
The village has also faced numerous attacks from Israeli settlers. In June 2024, a third of the village still standing was demolished as the IDF bulldozed 11 houses, including 5 tent residences, leaving 50 shepherds homeless.
They also destroyed the village's electricity generator, solar cells and water tanks.
Residents say that Monday's murder represents an escalation in what has already been a decades-long campaign to push them off their land.
Carmel is an illegal outpost, as are all Israeli settlements in the West Bank – they violate the Fourth Geneva Convention, which bans an occupying power from transferring its population to the area it occupies.
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