Israel indicts settler in rare charge over Palestinian activist’s killing

Israeli prosecutors have charged a settler with reckless manslaughter over the killing of Palestinian activist Awdah Hathaleen in the occupied West Bank, in the first such indictment of an Israeli in more than seven years.

The indictment against Yinon Levi, filed in an Israeli district court on Thursday, also includes charges of armed trespassing and malicious property damage.

Israeli human rights group Yesh Din said an Israeli civilian was last indicted over the killing of a Palestinian in the West Bank in 2019.

Hathaleen, a 31-year-old teacher and father of three, was killed in July 2025 when settlers brought excavators into the village of Umm al-Khair to level land for a new illegal outpost, sparking a confrontation with residents.

Video, including footage reportedly filmed by Hathaleen himself, showed Levi firing shots towards the crowd.

A separate investigation by Palestinian rights group Al-Haq, published on the killing’s first anniversary, reconstructed the shooting from video, testimony and geospatial analysis. It matched the fatal wound to Levi’s handgun and found none of the Palestinians present were armed, undercutting his self-defence claim.

The group said Levi was also filmed alongside Israeli forces identifying Palestinians for arrest, while an ambulance trying to reach Hathaleen was blocked as Israeli soldiers and police looked on.

Hathaleen had worked on the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land and regularly hosted foreign activists in his home.