Israeli settler accused of killing Palestinian involved in Oscar-winning West Bank film
No Other Land co-director Yuval Abraham said on X that a settler shot Odeh Hathaleen in the lungs in Umm Al-Khair village in the occupied West Bank.
Residents allege the shooter was Yinon Levy, who is sanctioned by the UK.
Attorney Avichai Hajbi said he was representing a resident "who felt his life was in danger, was forced to fire his weapon into the air" after residents were "attacked by an Arab mob, along with foreign activists, with stones and violence".
Mattan Berner-Kadish, an Israeli-American activist at the scene, told the BBC that at about 17:20 local time (15:20 BST) on Monday, a bulldozer from a nearby Israeli settlement was driven through private Palestinian land, crushing a sewage pipe, multiple olive trees and two fences.
Berner-Kadish and other activists, including Hathaleen's cousin Ahmad, ran to block the bulldozer. The activist said the driver hit Ahmad in the neck and shoulder with a drill that extended from the bulldozer, with his footage capturing Ahmad falling to the ground. Berner-Kadish did not believe Levy was driving.While attending to Ahmad's injuries, Berner-Kadish heard a pop. Running back to the village to get water, he saw Hathaleen lying bleeding from a gunshot wound and Levy, the only settler he saw, holding a gun.In a video believed to be filmed by a relative of Hathaleen and posted on social media, a man identified as Levy is seen holding a pistol with a bulldozer behind him, as men yell at him. Levy pushes at one man, who pushes back. Levy then raises his pistol and shoots ahead of him, then again into the air.The clip cuts off when the person filming turns around to run away as women are heard screaming.The footage does not show what or who the shots hit, if anything, and whether anyone else was shooting. There are no other settlers visible.Israeli police said it was investigating the incident in the area of Carmel, an Israeli settlement near Umm Al-Khair."As a result of the incident, a Palestinian man was pronounced deceased. His exact involvement is under investigation," police told the BBC.Police said on Tuesday morning they had detained an Israeli citizen for questioning. Israeli media later reported Levy was released on house arrest.The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) also detained five Palestinians on suspicion of involvement in the incident, along with two foreign tourists who were present. Berner-Kadish said on Tuesday evening they were still detained.The activist, who began visiting the village in 2021, said Hathaleen was "one of my best friends in the world" and the two were days away from constructing a football field in the village. He added that Hathaleen was a "warm and loving" father of three young children.The Palestinian education ministry said Hathaleen was a teacher at a local secondary school.US congresswoman Lateefah Simon, a Democrat from California, said she was "heartbroken" over the killing of Hathaleen. He and his cousin, "both holding valid visas", were detained and deported from San Francisco airport last month while travelling for a multicultural faith dialogue, she said.Abraham said Hathaleen had helped film No Other Land, the 2025 Oscar winner for best documentary feature that follows the legal fight between the Israeli government and Palestinians over Masafer Yatta, a West Bank community of about 20 villages.Israel's Supreme Court ruled to allow the demolition of homes and expulsion of more than 1,000 villagers in 2022.Eliram Azulai, the chairman of the local Israeli Mount Hebron Regional Council, said in response to Monday's incident that they had warned "and demanded the creation of security zones around the communities, and today we witnessed first-hand the danger posed by illegal construction in the area".Levy, a leader of an outpost farm, was sanctioned by the UK in 2024, along with others, because he "used physical aggression, threatened families at gunpoint, and destroyed property as part of a targeted and calculated effort to displace Palestinian communities".He denied the allegations to the BBC last year.He was also sanctioned by the US under the Biden administration, along with others, last year, but President Donald Trump lifted those sanctions.Gilad Kariv, a member of Israel's Knesset from the Democrats party, said on X in response to the video that "in the territories, armed Jewish militias operate unchecked".Israel has built about 160 settlements housing some 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem - land Palestinians want, along with Gaza, for a hoped-for future state - during the 1967 Middle East war. An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them.The settlements are considered illegal under international law - a position supported by an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) last year - although Israel disputes this.Settlement expansion has risen sharply since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power in late 2022 at the head of a right-wing, pro-settler coalition.Settler violence, which has also been on the rise for years, has surged since the outbreak of the war in Gaza.The UN documented at least 27 attacks by settlers against Palestinians that resulted in property damage, casualties or both, between 15 and 21 July, in the West Bank.The UN says at least 948 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank, 15 by Israeli settlers, and another 10 by either Israeli forces or settlers since the start of the war.At least 52 Israelis have also been killed in Palestinian attacks in Israel and the West Bank over the same period. — BBC
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
3 hours ago
- Arab News
Germany should consider Israel sanctions, senior lawmaker says after trip
BERLIN: A senior lawmaker in German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's coalition on Monday said Berlin should consider sanctions on Israel including a partial suspension of weapons exports or the suspension of a European Union-wide political agreement. The call by Siemtje Moeller, the deputy leader of the Social Democrats (SPD) parliamentary faction, reflects a sharpening of rhetoric from Berlin against Israel which has yet to yield any major policy changes however. Moeller, whose SPD joined a coalition with Merz's conservatives this year, wrote a letter to SPD lawmakers after returning from a trip to Israel with Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul last week. 'My assessment is that the Israeli government will move little without pressure. If such concrete improvements fail to materialize in the near future, there must be consequences,' she said in the letter, seen by Reuters. Recognition of a Palestinian state should not be 'taboo,' she said, adding that Israeli statements that there were no restrictions on aid to Gaza were not convincing. At the same time, Moeller demanded the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages held by Hamas. She said Hamas must no longer play a role in a political future in Gaza. 'It must be disarmed, its reign of terror must end.' Western nations have intensified efforts to exert pressure on Israel, with Britain, Canada and France signalling their readiness to recognize a Palestinian state in Israeli-occupied territory at the United Nations General Assembly this September. Israel has criticized France, Britain and Canada, saying their decision will reward Hamas. Critics argue that Germany's response remains overly cautious, shaped by an enduring sense of historical guilt for the Holocaust and reinforced by pro-Israel sentiment in influential media circles, weakening the West's collective ability to apply meaningful pressure on Israel. The Gaza war began when Hamas killed more than 1,200 people and took 251 hostage in a cross-border attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, according to Israeli figures. Israel's air and ground war in densely populated Gaza has since killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, according to enclave health officials. A growing number of civilians are dying from starvation and malnutrition, Gaza health authorities say, with images of starving children shocking the world and intensifying criticism of Israel over its curbs on aid into the enclave. Israel blames Hamas for the suffering in Gaza but, in response to a rising international outcry, it announced steps last week to let more aid reach the population, including pausing fighting for part of the day in some areas, approving air drops and announcing protected routes for aid convoys.
Arab News
4 hours ago
- Arab News
Why the delay in judging Israeli war crimes?
The Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem released a comprehensive report on July 27 describing the Israeli war on Gaza as genocide. However, the delay in publishing such an indictment is troubling and adds to an existing problem of politically motivated decision-making processes that have, in their own right, prolonged Israeli war crimes. The report accused Israel of committing genocide, a conclusion reached after a detailed analysis of the military campaign's intent, the systematic destruction of civilian life, and the government-engineered famine. This finding is significant because it adds to the massive body of legal and testimonial evidence affirming the Palestinian position that Israel's actions in Gaza constitute a genocide. Moreover, the fact that B'Tselem is an Israeli organization is doubly important. It represents an insider's indictment of the horrific massacres and the government-engineered famine in Gaza, directly challenging the baseless argument that accusing Israel of genocide is an act of antisemitism. Western media were particularly interested in this finding, even though numerous firsthand Palestinian reports and investigations are often ignored or downplayed. This double standard continues to feed into a chronic media problem in its perception of Palestine and Israel. Claims by Palestinians of Israeli war crimes have historically been ignored by mainstream media or academia. Whether the Zionist militia's massacre of Tantura in 1948, the actual number of Palestinians and Lebanese killed in the massacres of Sabra and Shatila in Lebanon in 1982, or the events resulting in the Jenin massacre in the West Bank in 2002, the media has frequently ignored the Palestinian account. It often gains a degree of validation only if it is backed by Israeli or Western voices. The latest B'Tselem report is no exception. But another question must be asked: Why did it take almost two years for B'Tselem to reach such an obvious conclusion? Israeli rights groups, in particular, have far greater access to the conduct of the Israeli army, the statements of politicians, and Hebrew media coverage than any other entity. Such a conclusion, therefore, should have been reached in a matter of two months, not two years. This kind of intentional delay has so far defined the position of many international institutions, organizations, and individuals whose moral authority would have helped Palestinians establish the facts of the genocide globally much earlier. For example, despite the International Court of Justice's historic ruling on Jan. 26, 2024, that determined there are plausible grounds for South Africa's accusation of Israel of committing genocide, the court is still unable, or unwilling, to produce a conclusive ruling. A definitive ruling would have put significant pressure on Israel to end its mass killing in Gaza. Instead, for now, the ICJ expects Israel to investigate itself — a highly unrealistic expectation at a time when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promises his extremist ministers that Israel will encourage the ethnic cleansing of Gaza. The same indictment of intentional and politicized delays can be attributed to the International Criminal Court. While it issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Nov. 21, 2024, no concrete action has been taken. Instead, it is Karim Khan, the ICC's chief prosecutor, who finds himself attacked by the US government and media for having the courage to follow through on the investigation. Individuals, too, especially those who have been associated with 'revolutionary' politics — the likes of Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders, among others — have been reluctant to act. On March 22, 2024, Ocasio-Cortez refused to use the term genocide in Gaza, going as far as claiming that while she saw an 'unfolding genocide,' she was not yet ready to use the term herself. Sanders, on the other hand, who has spoken out repeatedly and strongly against Netanyahu, describing him in an interview with CNN on July 31 as a 'disgusting liar,' has had repeated moral lapses since the start of the war. When the term genocide was used by many far less 'radical' politicians, Sanders doubled down during a lecture at a university in Ireland. He said that the word genocide 'makes him queasy,' and he urged people to be 'careful about it.' Delays born of political calculation and fear of retribution have given Israel the critical space it needed to carry out its genocide. Dr. Ramzy Baroud These are not simply lost opportunities or instances of moral equivocation; they have had a profound and direct impact on Israel's behavior. The timely intervention of governments, international institutions, high courts, media, and human rights groups would have fundamentally changed the dynamics of the war. Such collective pressure could have forced Israel and its allies to end the war, potentially saving thousands of lives. Delays born of political calculation and fear of retribution have given Israel the critical space it needed to carry out its genocide. Israel is actively exploiting this lack of legal and moral clarity to persist in its mass slaughter of Palestinians. This must change. The Palestinian perspective, their suffering, and their truths must be respected and honored without needing validation from Israeli or other sources. The Palestinian voice and their rights must be truly centered, not as an academic cliche or political jargon, but as an undeniable, everyday reality. As for those who have delayed their verdict regarding the Israeli genocide, no rationale can possibly absolve them. They will be judged by history, and by the desperate pleas of Gaza's mothers and fathers, who tried and failed to save their children from the Israeli killing machine and the world's collective silence or inaction.
Saudi Gazette
10 hours ago
- Saudi Gazette
Netanyahu asks Red Cross to help hostages in Gaza, as families warn against an ‘expanding war'
TEL AVIV — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Hamas of not wanting a ceasefire deal and requested that the International Red Cross bring food and medical care to hostages held in Gaza, after public fury ignited over propaganda videos showing two emaciated Israeli captives. Tens of thousands of protestors joined a rally in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening – some holding placards reading 'Stop the war' and 'Leave no one behind' – as they called for Netanyahu to strike a deal that would free the Israeli hostages still held in Gaza. Videos released by the militant groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad last week showed hostages Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski in a visibly fragile state – images that galvanized a forceful reaction both at home and abroad. On Sunday, the International Red Cross (ICRC) in Israel and the Occupied Territories said that it was 'appalled' by the videos and urged that the 'dire situation must come to an end.' Several world leaders also condemned the videos of the Israel hostages, with French President Emmanuel Macron describing them as 'unbearable' and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz saying the images 'show that Hamas should have no role in Gaza's future.' Netanyahu's office said on Sunday that the prime minister spoke with Julien Lerisson, the head of the Red Cross delegation in the region, to request 'his involvement in the immediate provision of food and medical care for the hostages.' The office also repeated Netanyahu's denial that starvation was rife in the enclave, despite a UN-backed food security agency's warning this week that 'the worst-case scenario of famine' is unfolding in Gaza. Hamas has said it is prepared to 'deal positively' with any Red Cross request to deliver food and medicine to hostages, but only on the condition that humanitarian corridors are opened up in Gaza. The militant group claims that the hostages' emaciated state is a reflection of worsening conditions in the strip. However, other hostages who have been freed in the past have similarly appeared gaunt and frail at the time of their release and described malnourishment while in captivity. Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Hamas' military wing, al-Qassam Brigades, said this weekend that the group does not intentionally starve the hostages, and that they eat the same food that Hamas fighters and the general Gaza population eat. 'They will not receive any special privileges amid the crime of starvation and siege,' he added. A member of Hamas' political bureau, Izzat Al-Rashiq, described the images as 'the definitive response to all who deny the existence of famine in Gaza.' Malnutrition-related deaths in Gaza spiked in July, the latest sign of a worsening hunger crisis, the World Health Organization warned last week. The agency said the enclave's malnutrition rates reached 'alarming levels,' with over 5,000 children under five admitted for outpatient treatment of malnutrition in just the first two weeks of July. Gazans also face lethal danger when attempting to collect aid from distribution sites, where violent clashes can erupt. On Sunday, a shooting incident near an aid site in northern Gaza killed at least 13 people and left dozens wounded, according to the Emergency and Medical Services in Gaza. Allowing Red Cross access would be a shift for Hamas, which has previously opposed any access to the hostages by the humanitarian group. The ICRC, which has only facilitated previous releases of hostages throughout the war, said in March that it was 'hugely disappointing' to have not yet been able to visit any hostages so far, emphasizing that it was not for lack of trying. Recent ceasefire talks have borne little fruit, with Israeli and US negotiators recalled from negotiations last month. US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff at the time blamed Hamas for poor coordination and 'lack of desire to reach a ceasefire,' saying the US would consider 'alternative options.' On Sunday, Netanyahu cited the latest images of Hamas captives as evidence of bad faith. 'When I see this, I understand exactly what Hamas wants. They don't want a deal. They want to break us with these horrifying videos, with the false horror propaganda they're spreading around the world,' he said. The Israeli leader is now 'pushing for the freeing of the hostages through military defeat (of Hamas),' one Israeli official told CNN on Sunday – a route that the hostages' families have repeatedly warned against. 'We are in discussions with the Americans. There is a growing understanding that Hamas is not interested in a deal,' the official said, adding that Netanyahu wants to combine the freeing of the hostages 'with the entry of humanitarian aid into areas outside the combat zones and, as much as possible, into areas not under Hamas control.' Steve Witkoff, the United States' Special Envoy to the Middle East, held a nearly three-hour meeting with the families of those still being held in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, telling them that the US' 'first priority' is getting the hostages back to Israel, the forum said. Fifty hostages remain in Gaza, at least 20 of whom are believed to be alive. CNN has reached out to Witkoff's team to confirm that he made these comments. As Israel's war in Gaza grinds on, it has faced increasing resistance from the Israeli public, whose frustration over the fates of the remaining hostages has intensified. According to polling released by the Israel Democracy Institute during a ceasefire period in March, over 70% of Israelis supported negotiating with Hamas for an end to the fighting and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in exchange for the release of the remaining hostages. Fifty hostages remain in Gaza, at least 20 of whom are believed to be alive. The hostages' families have repeatedly urged Netanyahu to strike a deal, warning that Red Cross assistance alone will not be enough, and that further expansion of the fighting in Gaza could endanger the remaining hostages' lives. 'Netanyahu is preparing the greatest deception of all. The repeated claims of freeing hostages through military victory are a lie and a public fraud,' Israel's Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement on Sunday. The group also condemned Hamas, saying it 'cannot hide the fact that we are dealing with an evil terrorist organization that has been holding innocent people in impossible conditions for over 660 days.' Hamas publicly insists that it remains committed to hostage release talks – but only if conditions in Gaza improve first. The group recently stopped engaging in any discussions regarding a ceasefire or the release of hostages, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN last week. 'It is essential to improve the catastrophic humanitarian situation significantly and to obtain a written response from the enemy regarding our response,' Basem Naim, a senior Hamas political official, also told CNN. 'This is a condition to go back to negotiations.' — CNN
