Video appears to show Israeli settler killing unarmed Palestinian activist in West Bank
The footage appears to show Yinon Levi firing toward the man filming, who was later identified as Awdah Hathaleen
New video footage appears to show the moment a Palestinian activist was killed as an Israeli settler fired toward him during a confrontation with unarmed Palestinians in the occupied West Bank last month.
The video released on Sunday by B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights group, shows Israeli settler Yinon Levi firing a gun toward the person filming. The footage cuts away, but the camera keeps rolling as the person moans in pain.
B’Tselem says it obtained the video from the family of Awdah Hathaleen, 31, an activist, English teacher and father of three who was shot dead on July 28, and who they said had filmed it. Levi, who was shown firing his gun twice in a video shot by another witness and obtained by Associated Press, was briefly detained and then released from house arrest by an Israeli court, which cited lack of evidence.
The shooting occurred in Umm al-Khair, a village that has long weathered settler violence in an area profiled in the Oscar-winning film No Other Land. Settler attacks on Palestinians have spiked since the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war, as have attacks by Palestinian militants.
“Awdah’s killing is another horrific example of how Palestinians, both in Gaza and in the West Bank, are currently living without any sort of protection, fully exposed to Israeli violence, while Israeli soldiers or settlers can kill them in broad daylight and enjoy full impunity while the world watches,” said Sarit Michaeli, the international outreach director for B’Tselem.