Palestinian activist Owdeh Hathaleen killed by Israeli settler in West Bank, witness says

The confrontation took place near Umm al-Khair, a Palestinian village of approximately 200 residents that has been under increasing pressure for several months from Israeli settlers who set up a settlement just a few metres away. Prior to the incident, the residents had already been enduring repeated acts of harassment and incursions into the village.

On the afternoon of Monday, July 28, tensions escalated significantly following the advance of a bulldozer towards a pipeline in the village. An Israeli settler fired multiple shots into the village. Shortly after, the Israeli army intervened, arresting several Palestinians, along with one Israeli.

The village is in the Masafer Yatta region, subject of the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land”, to which Owdeh Hathaleen had contributed.

‘The event started the day before’

Mattan Berner-Kadish, an Israeli-American pro-Palestinian activist and friend of Owdeh Hathaleen, was present during the attack on Monday, July 28, that resulted in Owdeh Hathaleen's death. He says the incident started peacefully on Sunday before escalating into a confrontation on Monday.

"The event started the day before [Editor’s note: Sunday, July 27], when the machine, the bulldozer, pulled up for the first time and the settlers and the head of this settlement security told us that it was going to be used exclusively on the land they occupy, in an olive grove that we had planted.

When the bulldozer was dropped off and parked, it was on the main road, and it had already damaged part of that road. The Palestinians had offered that the next day in the morning – the day that the event happened – they would take extra wheels that they have sitting around – as many of these villages do – and put them underneath so that it would roll over the wheels as opposed to on the road and not damage it.

And then, on Monday, there were more discussions because the settlers plan to build the road where the village’s water and electricity lines currently run. There were talks between the settlement's security chief and the villagers. Things didn't really seem like they were going to be too dramatic.

Then, all of a sudden, my friend Ahmed says: ‘Come, come, come !’ Because the bulldozer had started driving and it had crushed the sewage line that is the border between private Palestinian land and the [Israeli] State land, and then started driving into Palestinian land, destroying all trees and destroying the sewage pipe.

So me and Ahmed tried to get in front of it. A few other people tried to get in front too. We were filming. The driver didn't stop, and he swung the piece in the front that he was using to dig and he hit my friend Ahmed in the shoulder and the neck. He fell over.”

“A nurse and two activists showed up. One of them was trained as a paramedic, and I was translating and helping him. And then he asked me to go get him water.

While that was happening, I heard like a 'boom' that I thought was a sound grenade. I ran over to go get him water, and I saw Owdeh on the floor bleeding with a bullet wound.”

“So then I ran over to Levy, the settler. I asked him, I was begging him: 'Please don't shoot anyone else. Please calm down.' I said: 'You just killed somebody!' And he said: 'I'm glad I did it and I'm happy about it.' After that, we just tried to keep things a little calmer. We were able to bring ambulances. I tried to get in the ambulance with Owdeh. They didn't let me in.”

Owdeh Hathaleen's relatives announced his death hours later.

Berner-Kadish has been visiting the West Bank for many years. The 29-year-old Israeli-American met Hathaleen in 2021, and they quickly became close friends. He shared insights into how the father of three young children was perceived within the Palestinian community:

“He was a truly wonderful, sweet man, a teacher who was loved by children, by people. He was both the conduit between the activists in the village and just a man who held a tremendous amount of respect, and really, truly believed in a different future, in peace, in a possible different reality, and truly believed that his kids could live a better life than he did.”

Settler Yinon Levi accused

"The settlers [...] tried to shoot me, but the bullet hit my cousin Owdeh," wrote Alaa Hathaleen, the victim's cousin, on Instagram, sharing a video of the attack moments after it happened.

The armed man visible in the same video was quickly identified by local residents as Yinon Levi, a known settler in the region. 

International media and Israeli NGOs have extensively documented his profile. He has also been under American and European sanctions for several years, specifically for harassment, intimidation, and violence against Palestinian communities. According to the Israeli NGO Peace Now, Yinon Levi, who works in earthmoving, arrived in the village with the bulldozer the day before the attack.

A few years ago, he established the "Havat Meitarim" outpost. From there, according to a February 2024 US State Department report, "he regularly led groups of settlers [...] that assaulted Palestinian and Bedouin civilians, threatened them with additional violence if they did not leave their homes, burned their fields, and destroyed their property".

In the attack video, he is seen firing twice. His second shot goes into the air, but his first bullet travels horizontally along the ground, at human height. The footage does not show what was struck by this second bullet.

Israeli police arrested Yinon Levi after the attack. He was released on July 30 and placed under house arrest by the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court, as reported by the Israeli media outlet The Times of Israel. Levi must stay at an Israeli farm under the supervision of his wife and sister-in-law until Friday, August 1. Police are seeking to charge Levi with "reckless manslaughter and unlawful use of a firearm”.

Israeli military repression follows attack

Soon after the attack, numerous videos emerged on social media, posted by relatives and activists. They document the actions of the Israeli army in the wake of the assault.

Berner-Kadish told our team:

“The army and settlers kind of pushed all the activists and Palestinians back into a tiny part of the village. They arrested a few Palestinians and a few activists, including one who was a nurse and was trying to save Owdeh's life. And then Levi, the settler who killed Owdeh, actually pointed out to the army who he wanted arrested among the Palestinians.”

“They showed up and pulled everyone into their house and told us that we weren't allowed to film. The five Palestinians have not been released, and neither have the two activists, the American and the Italian. Neither of them has been released.”

A video shows Israeli police advancing into the village early on Tuesday, July 29, prohibiting residents from leaving their homes and threatening to confiscate their phones. One of the Israeli police officers can be heard saying in Hebrew, "No one films. [...] For now, no one can continue filming from here. Is that clear? Otherwise, I will take all your phones."

On Tuesday, July 29, the day after the attack, Israeli soldiers entered a tent where Owdeh Hathaleen's relatives had gathered to mourn. According to Alaa Hathaleen, they forced journalists, including foreign reporters, to leave the tent and arrested two activists.

A March 2025 report from the UN Human Rights Office on Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian Territory highlights that "the line between settler and State violence has blurred to a vanishing point, including through the strengthened role of 'settlement defence squads', and the increased enlisting of settlers for reserve duty in 'regional defence battalions”

Palestinian village under constant pressure

Berner-Kadish said:

“This village has had many attacks. There's been a lot of house demolitions and just kind of settler harassment in general. This village is on the fence with the settlement. On one side of the village is the settlement. On the other side of the village is the chicken farm of the settlement. And they very much intend and plan to take all the land and remove the Palestinians from it.”

According to the NGO Peace Now, the village of Umm al-Khair has recently seen Israeli settlers increasingly encroaching on their homes. The NGO reported that in February, settlers "organised a large planting event and planted trees right next to residents' homes". They then set up a caravan just 40 metres from the village houses.

Following Owdeh Hathaleen’s death, Berner-Kadish stated that the Israeli army launched a pre-dawn raid on Wednesday, July 30, targeting the Palestinian villages of Umm al-Khair and Tuba. He said the army "arrested nine Palestinians". In total, according to Alaa Hathaleen, 14 Palestinians from Umm al-Khair village have been arrested since the killing.

The situation in the occupied West Bank is poised to worsen following the Israeli Parliament's majority vote on July 23, in favour of a motion calling for its annexation. This comes as a UN report, covering November 1, 2023, to October 31, 2024, reveals a monthly average of 118 incidents of settler violence and a total of 612 Palestinians killed in the West Bank.

Israeli settlements in the territory remain illegal under international law.