Palestinian peace activist Awdah Hathaleen, a central figure in the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, was shot and killed by an Israeli settler on Monday during a raid on his home village of Umm al-Khair in the occupied West Bank. The killing has sparked widespread condemnation from human rights advocates and filmmakers, drawing renewed attention to a surge in settler violence and the U.S. government’s reversal of sanctions against the accused perpetrator.
Yuval Abraham, an Israeli journalist and co-director of No Other Land, confirmed Hathaleen’s death on social media. “An Israeli settler just shot [Hathaleen] in the lungs, a remarkable activist who helped us film No Other Land in Masafer Yatta,” Abraham wrote on Monday. “I can hardly believe it. My dear friend Awdah was slaughtered this evening. He was standing in front of the community center 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,” said Basel Adra, a Palestinian activist and fellow co-director of the film.
Video footage of the incident shows a man identified as the shooter pacing and brandishing a handgun, firing toward a group of people while pushing those who tried to confront him. Eyewitnesses confirmed that the gunman was Yinon Levi, an Israeli settler previously sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department and European Union for leading violent assaults on Palestinian communities.
Hathaleen, an English teacher, former soccer player, and widely known peace activist, had just weeks earlier returned from the United States after being denied entry and deported upon arrival. He and his cousin Eid were set to begin an interfaith speaking tour organized by the California-based Kehilla Community Synagogue. According to Ben Linder, co-chair of the Silicon Valley chapter of J Street and the organizer of their first scheduled speaking engagement, “They came here on an interfaith peace-promoting mission.” Both men were deported by U.S. authorities without explanation after being detained at San Francisco International Airport.
“Awdah stood with dignity and courage against oppression. His loss is a deep wound to our hearts and our struggle for justice,” said Issa Amro, co-founder of Youth Against Settlements, a grassroots human rights group based in Hebron.
The settler who shot Hathaleen, Yinon Levi, has long been accused of orchestrating violence against Palestinian communities. In April 2024, the Biden administration sanctioned Levi, describing him as someone who “regularly led groups of violent extremists” in attacks on Palestinians and Bedouins. The European Union also sanctioned him during the same period. However, those sanctions were effectively lifted by Israeli officials, and fully rescinded by President Donald Trump on his first day back in office in January 2025.
Levi admitted in an interview with the Associated Press that the sanctions caused him temporary financial inconvenience but ultimately had little lasting effect. “America thought it would weaken us, and in the end, they made us stronger,” Levi said. After his bank accounts were initially frozen, members of his community raised thousands of dollars to support him. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich personally intervened to help sanctioned settlers regain access to funds. Despite international condemnations, Israeli authorities took no legal action against Levi, and his access to banking services was gradually restored.
Violence in Masafer Yatta, where Hathaleen lived and organized, has escalated significantly since the release and Oscar recognition of No Other Land, a documentary chronicling the impact of Israeli occupation on Palestinian life in the region. Just weeks after the film won an Oscar, Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal was beaten by an Israeli settler mob in his home village of Susiya. While en route to a hospital by ambulance, Ballal was detained by Israeli soldiers and later released bloodied and bruised.
According to activists, Israeli settlers and soldiers have used the film’s visibility as justification to intensify their repression. Israeli authorities have recently designated large parts of Masafer Yatta as a live-fire military zone—effectively ordering the forced displacement of more than 1,200 Palestinians from the area. Bulldozers have accompanied raids on villages like Umm al-Khair, fast-tracking home demolitions and destroying vital infrastructure.
On the same day as Hathaleen’s killing, Israeli settlers invaded the village with a bulldozer. As Hathaleen’s family attempted to defend their land, he was shot in the chest. A relative, Ahmad al-Hathaleen, was run over by the settler operating the bulldozer when he attempted to block it. Ahmad is currently hospitalized with serious injuries. Haaretz confirmed these events, quoting an eyewitness who said, “People lost their minds, and the children threw stones.”
Jewish Voice for Peace released a statement confirming Hathaleen’s death: “Activists working with Awda report that Israeli settlers invaded Umm al-Kheir with a bulldozer to destroy what little remains of the Palestinian village. As Awda and his family tried to defend their homes and land, a settler opened fire—both aiming directly and shooting indiscriminately.”
The group added, “Awda has always been a pillar amongst his family, his village and the wider international community of activists who had the pleasure to meet Awda.”
Brooklyn-based journalist Jasper Nathaniel, who has reported extensively on settler violence, described Levi as “a known terrorist who’s been protected by the Israeli government for years,” adding, “One of the only good things Biden did for Palestine was sanction him.”
The death of Hathaleen has drawn expressions of grief and solidarity from peace activists in Palestine, Israel, and the United States. “May his memory be a revolution,” wrote Israeli-American peace activist Mattan Berner-Kadish. “I will remember him smiling, laughing, dreaming of a better future for his children. We must make it so.”
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), nearly 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli settlers since October 2023. More than 6,400 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced during that period following home demolitions and military-designated evacuations.
Hathaleen leaves behind a wife and three young children.
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