Arabic version: توجيه تهمة القتل غير العمد لمستوطن إسرائيلي في مقتل عودة الهذالين

According to Al Jazeera, Israeli prosecutors have charged settler Yinon Levi with reckless manslaughter over the killing of Palestinian activist Awdah Hathaleen in the occupied West Bank. The indictment, filed in an Israeli district court on Thursday, also includes charges of armed trespassing and malicious property damage.

The case is the first such indictment of an Israeli in more than seven years, Al Jazeera reported. Israeli human rights group Yesh Din said the last time an Israeli civilian was indicted over the killing of a Palestinian in the West Bank was in 2019.

Hathaleen, a 31-year-old teacher and father of three, was killed in July 2025 in the village of Umm al-Khair. Settlers had brought excavators into the village to level land for a new illegal outpost, leading to a confrontation with residents. Video, including footage reportedly filmed by Hathaleen, showed Levi firing shots towards a crowd.

A separate investigation by Palestinian rights group Al-Haq, published on the first anniversary of the killing, reconstructed the shooting using video, testimony and geospatial analysis. It said the fatal wound matched Levi’s handgun and that none of the Palestinians present were armed, challenging his self-defence claim. Al-Haq also said Levi was filmed with Israeli forces identifying Palestinians for arrest, while an ambulance attempting to reach Hathaleen was blocked as soldiers and police looked on.

Hathaleen had worked on the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land and regularly hosted foreign activists at his home. Levi’s lawyer said the charges were mistaken and that the defence would contest them in court. Israeli rights organisation B’Tselem called the indictment “the exception that proves the rule”, while saying impunity for settlers and soldiers was deliberate policy.