Hebron, West Bank :Awdah Hathleen, a 31-year-old Palestinian activist and English teacher, was shot and killed by an Israeli settler in Masafer Yatta, a village in the southern West Bank, on Monday. Hathleen was notably part of the crew for the Academy Award-winning documentary No Other Land, a film that sheds light on the forced displacement of Palestinians in the occupied territories, reported the Al Jazeera.
According to eyewitnesses, Hathleen was standing outside the community center in his village when he was fatally shot in the chest by a settler. The Palestinian filmmaker and co-director of No Other Land, Basel Adra, shared his grief on social media, posting a photograph with Hathleen and writing, “My dear friend Awdah was slaughtered this evening… This is how Israel erases us – one life at a time.”
Hathleen is survived by his wife and three young children, the eldest being just six years old. He taught at Al-Saray’a Secondary School in the Albadawiya area of Masafer Yatta and was an active voice against Israeli settler violence.
Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, co-director of No Other Land, also posted a video on social media on Monday night that showed a known settler, Yinon Levi, opening fire on Palestinians near the site of the incident. Levi had previously been sanctioned by both the United States and the European Union in 2024 for repeated violent attacks against Palestinians. However, the Trump administration lifted these sanctions earlier this year.
+972 Magazine, an Israeli publication known for its investigative journalism, described Hathleen as a colleague and long-time contributor. His killing has intensified concerns about the growing impunity of settlers in the West Bank.
On the same day as Hathleen’s death, Israeli human rights group B’Tselem published a damning report accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. The report noted a sharp surge in attacks by settlers, many of whom are heavily armed and operate with apparent military backing.
In a separate incident in June, Awdah Hathleen and his cousin Eid were detained at San Francisco airport before they could begin an interfaith speaking tour organized by the California-based Kehilla Community Synagogue.
Since the beginning of Israel’s assault on Gaza in October 2023, over 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank alone by Israeli forces and settlers.
