Awdah Hathaleen, Palestinian activist who helped make Oscar-winning No Other Land, killed in West Bank

Palestinian activist, teacher and journalist Awdah Hathaleen was shot and killed by an Israeli settler in the village of Umm al-Khairnear in the occupied West Bank.

The attack on Monday, captured on a video obtained by The Associated Press, appears to show an Israeli settler, Yinon Levi, who was removed from the sanctions list by Donald Trump, firing his gun wildly. He was arrested by Israeli police for questing, but no charges have been filed against him.

Hathaleen was a prolific activist, best known for helping the creators of the Oscar-winning film No Other Land, which documents Israeli settler and soldier attacks on the Palestinian community of Masafer Yatta.

According to activists from Umm al-Khair, the killing happened after a settler in a bulldozer drove through the village, destroying trees and property.

When a resident approached to ask the driver of the bulldozer to stop, the driver knocked him down with the blade of the bulldozer, leading residents to throw stones. Levi is said to have emerged from the settlement and began firing. Hathaleen was then struck by a bullet while standing a distance away from the confrontation.

Activists shared the last message Hathaleen sent before being killed, writing: “The settlers are working behind our houses and … they tried to cut the main water pipe for the community … If you can reach people like the Congress, courts, whatever, please do everything.”

The two filmmakers behind No Other Land, Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham and Palestinian journalist Basel Adra, confirmed that the activist was shot and killed.

“My dear friend Awdah was slaughtered this evening,” Adra wrote on social media. “He was standing in front of the community centre in his village when a settler fired a bullet that pierced his chest and took his life. This is how Israel erases us — one life at a time.”

Hathaleen was from Masafer Yatta, a string of Palestinian hamlets on the hills south of Hebron, where residents have been trying to prevent Israeli forces from destroying their home after the area was declared a military zone by Israel.

Their fight was the subject of No Other Land, which won best documentary at the Oscars in March.

Hathaleen had been denied entry into the US last month after arriving for a speaking tour. He had been invited to an interfaith speaking tour by the Kehilla Community Synagogue to talk about the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, and was detained and deported on a flight back to the Middle East,

Hathaleen’s killing comes as Israel-based human rights organisations B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights released reports stating that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

It was the first time major Israeli rights groups have publicly concluded that Israel's attacks in Gaza are a genocide, an assessment previously reached by various other international organisations.