Israeli prosecutors filed an indictment on Thursday charging a Jewish settler, Yinon Levi, with reckless manslaughter over the death last year of Palestinian community leader Owdeh Hathaleen in the occupied West Bank. The State Attorney's office lodged additional counts tied to a July 2025 incident in the village of Umm al-Khair, including armed trespassing and malicious property damage.
Hathaleen, a prominent activist who took part in the 2025 Oscar-winning documentary "No Other Land," was killed during a confrontation in Umm al-Khair when settlers operating a large excavator entered the village. Video filmed by Hathaleen captured the moment he was shot during the confrontation. Footage distributed by the Israeli rights group B'Tselem shows a man identified as Levi drawing a firearm and firing in Hathaleen's direction. The recording then captures Hathaleen moaning as he falls to the ground.
The indictment follows previous international measures against Levi: Britain and the European Union have placed him under sanctions over alleged violence against Palestinians. Levi has denied that he fired the shot that killed Hathaleen. Reuters was not able to reach his lawyer for comment.
This legal action is notable because it constitutes the first time a settler has been indicted in the killing of a Palestinian since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel. Those attacks triggered a large-scale Israeli military operation in Gaza and, according to human rights monitors, were followed by a marked increase in settler violence in the West Bank. B'Tselem has characterized the indictment as an exception and argued that the broader pattern reflects a level of impunity granted to soldiers and settlers who harm Palestinians, framing that impunity as a component of policy that permits continued and escalating violence.
United Nations figures cited in related reporting indicate that, in the period since the October 2023 attacks, Israeli soldiers and settlers have been responsible for the deaths of at least 1,100 Palestinians, among them at least 240 children. The UN also reports 18 Palestinians have died in incidents linked to settler attacks so far this year, compared with 17 in all of 2025.
Israeli military authorities maintain that they investigate alleged wrongdoing by soldiers and that both the military and the Israeli police take actions aimed at reducing settler violence. The indictment against Levi comes amid longstanding contention over the presence of hundreds of thousands of Israeli settlers living among millions of Palestinians in territory Israel captured in the 1967 war. Palestinians regard those areas as central to any future independent state.
International institutions, Palestinian authorities and most countries view the settlements as illegal under international conventions and consider them a major obstacle to a negotiated peace. Israel disputes the characterization of the settlements as illegal, stating that a Jewish presence has existed in the West Bank for thousands of years.
The charges against Levi and the prominence of the video evidence make this case an unusual instance of criminal accountability for a settler in a Palestinian death. The indictment may be read by observers as a departure from recent practice, but human rights groups cited in coverage stress that it remains an outlier amid wider trends of violence and a low rate of prosecutions.
Summary of the facts in the case:
- The State Attorney's office filed an indictment charging Yinon Levi with reckless manslaughter in the killing of Owdeh Hathaleen.
- Additional charges include armed trespassing and malicious property damage tied to a July 2025 incident in Umm al-Khair where settlers operated an excavator.
- Video filmed by Hathaleen and released by B'Tselem shows a person identified as Levi drawing a weapon and firing; Hathaleen is heard moaning as he falls.
- Levi has been sanctioned by Britain and the European Union and denies firing the fatal shot; his lawyer was not reached for comment.
- Human rights reporting places the indictment as the first of its kind since the October 7, 2023 attacks and a subsequent rise in settler violence.