Israeli prosecutors charged Jewish settler Yinon Levi on Thursday with reckless homicide over the fatal 2025 shooting of Palestinian community leader Awdah Hathaleen in the occupied West Bank, marking the first such indictment in seven years.
Hathaleen, a 31-year-old teacher, was killed on July 28 during an altercation with settlers who brought excavators into the village of Umm al-Khair to level land for a new outpost. Jewish settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law because the UN views them as obstacles to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
Videos of the incident show Levi brandishing a pistol during a confrontation with local residents and firing shots toward the crowd. Some of the men surrounding Levi could be heard shouting “Shoot me” in English.
El grupo DDHH B'Tselem publica vídeo del periodista palestino Awdah Hathaleen filmando su propio asesinato a manos del colono israelí Yinon LeviComo es habitual en Israel, juez liberó rápidamente a Levi, a pesar d q las imágenes muestran q le disparó a Hathaleen a sangre fría pic.twitter.com/788KmMSqRc
According to the indictment, cited by Haaretz, Levi fired a bullet toward buildings while “acting recklessly toward the possibility that his actions could lead to someone’s death.” If found guilty, he would face up to 12 years in prison.
This is the settler who killed our dear friend ‘Awdah Hathaleen.At the end of the video, he fires the bullet that took the life of ‘AwdahToday, the apartheid court decided to release him to house arrest.Yinon Levi, a settler sanctioned by 9 countries (now 8, because of Trump) pic.twitter.com/pwFBFVmBkc
Levi was sanctioned as a “violent extremist” by the Biden administration, but President Donald Trump removed him from the US sanctions list in 2025. He remains under EU sanctions.
An Israeli settler just shot Odeh Hadalin in the lungs, a remarkable activist who helped us film No Other Land in Masafer Yatta. Residents identified Yinon Levi, sanctioned by the EU and US, as the shooter. This is him in the video firing like crazy. pic.twitter.com/xH1Uo6L1wN
Settlers and Israeli soldiers have killed at least 1,100 Palestinians in the West Bank since the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza began in October 2023, according to Israeli rights group B’Tselem.
According to Israeli rights group Yesh Din, Levi is the first Israeli civilian to be indicted over the death of a Palestinian in the West Bank since 2019. The group’s data, cited by Israeli media, showed that more than 90% of cases between 2005 and 2025 did not result in charges and that just 3% resulted in a conviction.
Israel has expanded its settlements in recent years, a policy championed by far-right politicians, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. Last month, Smotrich announced the allocation of around $440 million to establish 34 new settlements, drawing condemnation from the UN.
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