Israel charges settler over Palestinian activist’s killing

Israeli prosecutors have charged a West Bank settler with reckless manslaughter over the killing of Palestinian activist Awdah Odeh Hathaleen, a teacher and father of three who worked on the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land.

The indictment against Yinon Levy, also spelled Levi, was filed in an Israeli district court and includes charges of armed trespassing and malicious property damage. Prosecutors say the case stems from a July 2025 confrontation in the Palestinian village of Umm al-Khair, where settlers had brought an excavator into the village and residents gathered to confront them.

According to the indictment, Levy cocked his gun and fired toward residents, striking Hathaleen, then fired another shot into the air. Footage of the incident was widely shared online. Al Jazeera reported that video, including footage said to have been filmed by Hathaleen himself, showed Levy firing toward the crowd.

Levy has denied firing the shot that killed Hathaleen. In a letter seen by The Associated Press, he said he would fight for his innocence in court and wrote that prosecutors should not penalize acts of self-defense, accusing them of giving “de facto support for terrorism.” His lawyer, Avichai Hajbi, told the AP the prosecution had made a “mistaken decision.” Al Jazeera also reported that Levy’s lawyer said the defense would contest the charges in court.

Human rights groups described the indictment as unusual. The BBC reported that Israeli rights group B’Tselem said it was the first time an Israeli had been indicted for killing a Palestinian in the West Bank in nearly three years, and the first such indictment since the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which triggered the Gaza war. Al Jazeera reported that Yesh Din said an Israeli civilian was last indicted over the killing of a Palestinian in the West Bank in 2019.

B’Tselem called the indictment “the exception that proves the rule.” The group said: “The impunity Israel grants to soldiers and settlers who harm Palestinians is not a failure of the system – it is a central component of a policy designed to allow the violence to continue and escalate.”

A lawyer for Hathaleen’s family said they hoped the charges marked a “turning point” in the consequences settlers face for violence against Palestinians. Mattan Berner-Kadish, an Israeli-American activist who was at the scene, told the BBC: “I think the general reaction is happiness that anything is happening while also feeling that it should be a murder charge and a longer maximum sentence.” He added: “Mixed feelings but also certainly pleasantly surprised and happy there might be consequences.”

Hathaleen, 31, was a prominent voice against settler violence in the occupied West Bank. He appeared in No Other Land, which follows the legal struggle between the Israeli government and Palestinians over Masafer Yatta, a West Bank area of about 20 villages. Israel’s Supreme Court ruled in 2022 to allow the demolition of homes and the expulsion of more than 1,000 villagers there.

Al Jazeera reported that a separate investigation by the Palestinian rights group Al-Haq, released on the first anniversary of Hathaleen’s killing, used video, testimony and geospatial analysis to match the fatal wound to Levy’s handgun and found none of the Palestinians present were armed. Al-Haq also said Levy was filmed alongside Israeli forces identifying Palestinians for arrest, while an ambulance trying to reach Hathaleen was blocked as Israeli soldiers and police looked on.

Levy, a leader of an outpost farm, was sanctioned by the United Kingdom in 2024. The UK government said at the time that he had “used physical aggression, threatened families at gunpoint, and destroyed property as part of a targeted and calculated effort to displace Palestinian communities.” He denied those allegations to the BBC in 2024. Al Jazeera reported he was also sanctioned by the European Union. The United States sanctioned him under the Biden administration, but those sanctions were later lifted under President Donald Trump.

The indictment comes amid increased settler violence in the West Bank. The United Nations says at least 1,110 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank since Oct. 7, 2023, while at least 41 Israelis have been killed there by a Palestinian armed group or civilian in the same period. B’Tselem says at least 1,100 Palestinians, including 240 children, have been killed in the West Bank by settlers and soldiers since the Gaza war began.