A PALESTINIAN activist and journalist who contributed to the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land has been killed in the West Bank.
A video that has circulated online since Monday appears to show an Israeli settler, Yinon Levi, firing a gun at a group of people in a village. The incident occurred at the time the Palestinian journalist Awdah Hathaleen was killed in the area.
Levi, who was sanctioned under Joe Biden’s administration and was subsequently removed from the list by Donald Trump, was reportedly arrested by Israeli police and was questioned, but has faced no charges.
“My dear friend Awdah was slaughtered this evening,” Basel Adra, the Palestinian co-director of the No Other Land documentary, wrote.
“He was standing in front of the community centre in his village when a settler fired a bullet that pierced his chest and took his life.
“This is how Israel erases us – one life at a time.”
Activists from the village of Umm al-Khair said the killing happened after a settler in a bulldozer drove through their land, destroying trees and property, according to reports.
Levi allegedly knocked one of the residents from the village down after they approached the bulldozer trying to get him to stop.
After the person was knocked over, other residents began to throw stones at the bulldozer, at which point Levi exited the vehicle and began firing a handgun.
Hathaleen, was reportedly standing a distance away from the confrontation, but was struck by a bullet in the chest and was killed.
Activists shared the last message Hathaleen sent which he urged people to act to stop settler encroachment on Umm al-Khair.
“The settlers are working behind our houses and … they tried to cut the main water pipe for the community … If you can reach people like the Congress, courts, whatever, please do everything,” he wrote.
Hathaleen was a resident of Masafer Yatta, a string of small villages located on the hills south of Hebron, which have been declared a military zone by Israel.
His and other residents' efforts to prevent Israeli forces from destroying their homes were the subject of the Oscar-winning documentary, No Other Land.
Yuval Abraham, the Israeli co-director of the film, shared a video on social media, which has since been widely spread across social media, that appears to show Levi shooting a gun in front of a bulldozer.
ינון לוי, מתנחל שהוטלו עליו סנקציות בגין אלימות קשה כלפי פלסטינים, יורה לעבר תושבים במסאפר יטא. עודה הדאלין, חבר שסייע לנו לצלם את אין ארץ אחרת, נורה בפלג גופו העליון ומצבו קשה. תושבים אמרו שלוי הוא היורה pic.twitter.com/awwvSVkE7J
— Yuval Abraham יובל אברהם (@yuval_abraham) July 28, 2025
The Palestinian Authority’s education ministry accused Israeli settlers in the West Bank of killing Hathaleen, writing on social media that the activist “was shot dead by settlers … during their attack on the village of Umm al-Khair”.
The Israeli military reportedly acknowledged the incident, saying that an armed “Israeli civilian” opened fire on a group of people throwing rocks.
The Israeli police added they arrested one Israeli citizen for questioning and that they were investigating the incident, while the military arrested seven people from Umm al-Khair, including two international solidarity activists.
“Following the incident, the death of a Palestinian was confirmed,” the police said.
Settlers said they would demonstrate outside the Jerusalem courthouse where Levi was taken for questioning.
Trump removed Levi and more than a dozen other extremist settlers and organisations that terrorise Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on his first day in office in January.
Levi is still under both EU and UK sanctions.
Hathaleen’s death comes amid increasing violence by settlers and the Israeli military against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
At least 1000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7000 have been injured in the West Bank since October 2023.
