New investigation shows how an Israeli settler escaped justice

On July 28, 2025, Awdah Hathaleen, a 31-year-old Palestinian activist and father of three, was fatally shot during a raid on the village of Umm al-Khair in Masafer Yatta in the southern occupied West Bank. Hathaleen had previously contributed to the Oscar-winning documentary "No Other Land" and was filming on his mobile phone when the incident occurred.

Al-Haq, a Palestinian rights organization, conducted a comprehensive investigation released on the first anniversary of Hathaleen's death. The group reviewed multiple videos and photographs from the scene, examined legal testimony, and performed geospatial and open-source analysis. Their findings concluded that Israeli settler Yinon Levi fired the fatal shot. The autopsy revealed a single bullet to the chest caused fatal bleeding, with a one-centimetre defect matching the nine-millimetre handgun Levi carried—an Israeli-manufactured firearm commonly used by Israeli settlers.

Levi claimed in court that his shot had no connection to Hathaleen's death and that he acted in self-defence. However, Al-Haq's evidence established that no Palestinians at the scene were armed and that Hathaleen posed no danger when the trigger was pulled. The incident occurred as Levi and other Israelis conducted land-levelling work for an illegal settlement outpost, with excavators deviating onto privately owned land belonging to Umm al-Khair residents.

Tensions had escalated minutes before the shooting when an excavator operated by settler Rony Avraham struck Hathaleen's cousin Ahmad in the head with its hydraulic hammer. Witnesses reported that Levi struck several residents, including two women, before drawing his weapon. Despite this, Levi was not arrested at the scene and was filmed standing with Israeli forces while pointing out Palestinians and international activists who were subsequently detained.

Following international outcry, Levi was eventually detained but an Israeli court released him under house arrest for only three days. According to the Al-Haq report, this response suggests "operational alignment with the settlers' actions, manifested through the provision of protection and the absence of law enforcement measures against settlers, who were not treated as criminal suspects." An ambulance attempting to reach Hathaleen was blocked by Israeli settlers.