Israeli prosecutors have charged a settler with reckless manslaughter over the killing of Palestinian activist Odeh Hathaleen in the occupied West Bank.
Yinon Levy was charged in connection with the July 2025 shooting in the village of Umm al-Khair, according to Israel’s Southern District Prosecutor’s Office. Hathaleen, a teacher and father of three, was known for documenting settler violence and was involved in filming the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land.
The charges against Levy also include armed trespassing and malicious property damage. Prosecutors said the incident began when settlers operated an excavator in the Palestinian village, leading to a confrontation with residents.
According to the indictment, Levy cocked his gun during the confrontation and fired in the direction of residents, hitting Hathaleen. Prosecutors said he then fired a second shot into the air. Footage of the incident was widely shared online after the shooting.
Levy has previously denied firing the shot that killed Hathaleen. In a letter seen by The Associated Press, he said he would fight to prove his innocence in court. He wrote that prosecutors should not penalise acts of self-defence and accused them of providing “de facto support for terrorism”, the news agency reported.
Avichai Hajbi, a lawyer for Levy, told the AP that the prosecution had made a “mistaken decision”.
A lawyer for Hathaleen’s family said relatives hoped the charges would mark a “turning point” in the consequences settlers face for violence against Palestinians.
Israeli rights group B’Tselem said it was the first time an Israeli had been indicted for killing a Palestinian in the West Bank for nearly three years. The group also said it was the first such indictment since the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, which triggered the war in Gaza and was followed by a rise in settler violence in the West Bank.
At least 1,110 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank since 7 October 2023, according to the UN. At least 41 Israelis have been killed either by a Palestinian armed group or a Palestinian civilian in the West Bank during the same period, the UN said.
B’Tselem described the decision to indict Levy as the “exception that proves the rule”. In a statement, the organisation said: “The impunity Israel grants to soldiers and settlers who harm Palestinians is not a failure of the system - it is a central component of a policy designed to allow the violence to continue and escalate.”
Mattan Berner-Kadish, an Israeli-American activist who was at the scene, told the BBC there were mixed feelings about the indictment. “I think the general reaction is happiness that anything is happening while also feeling that it should be a murder charge and a longer maximum sentence,” he said.
He added: “Mixed feelings but also certainly pleasantly surprised and happy there might be consequences.”
Hathaleen had been a prominent voice against settler violence in the occupied West Bank. He featured in No Other Land, which follows the legal struggle between the Israeli government and Palestinians over Masafer Yatta, a community of about 20 villages in the West Bank.
Israel’s Supreme Court ruled in 2022 to allow the demolition of homes and the expulsion of more than 1,000 villagers in Masafer Yatta.
Levy, a leader of an outpost farm, was sanctioned by the UK in 2024. The UK government said at the time that he had “used physical aggression, threatened families at gunpoint, and destroyed property as part of a targeted and calculated effort to displace Palestinian communities”. Levy denied the allegations to the BBC in 2024.
He was also sanctioned by the US under the Biden administration, but those sanctions were later lifted under President Donald Trump.
The indictment will now put the case before an Israeli court, where Levy has said he intends to contest the charges.
