Israel charges settler over killing of Palestinian activist in West Bank in rare prosecution

By Kara Fox, Dana Karni, CNN

(CNN) — An Israeli settler has been charged with reckless manslaughter for the killing of a prominent Palestinian activist last year, marking a rare instance of Israel prosecuting a settler for violence against Palestinians.

Prosecutors on Thursday unveiled charges against Yinon Levi, who lives in the south of the West Bank, over the death of Odeh Hathalin in July 2025.

The reckless manslaughter charge carries a lesser punishment than murder under Israeli law, with a maximum prison sentence of 12 years. The indictment, filed at the Beersheba District Court, also includes charges of armed trespassing and malicious property damage.

It is extremely unusual for Israel to charge settlers with violence against Palestinians. The charges against Levi mark the first time since the October 7, 2023 attacks that an Israeli has been indicted for killing a Palestinian in the West Bank, according to Israeli human rights group B’Tselem.

Many settlers are armed, and violence in the West Bank has surged since the beginning of the war in Gaza.

Israel has killed at least 1,100 Palestinians in the West Bank since October 2023, according to B’Tselem. Of those, 37 were killed by Israeli settlers, it said.

Hathalin, 31, was a prominent voice advocating against settler violence and was involved in the 2025 Oscar-winning film “No Other Land,” which documented Palestinian residents’ fight to protect their homes in the West Bank community of Masafer Yatta. Hathalin, a father of three, was shot in the village of Umm al-Khair, in that same community.

Thursday’s indictment alleges that Levi fired toward an area where villagers, including children, had gathered after he had ordered an excavator operator – who was a minor – to clear an unauthorized route across privately owned Palestinian land in Umm al-Khair.

“At one point, the backhoe operator allegedly used the excavator’s digging tooth against one of the individuals standing in its path, striking him and causing injuries to his head and shoulder. Despite this, Levi allegedly signaled the operator to continue driving and to use the backhoe to break through another fence on the property,” a spokesperson for the Southern District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.

Prosecutors said that a confrontation developed between Levi and some of the villagers who had gathered to stop the backhoe by throwing stones. Levi allegedly assaulted two Palestinians in that group.

Levi then readied his handgun, moved away from the group and “fired a single shot parallel to the ground,” in an area where children were also present, the statement said.

Hathalin, who was filming from the courtyard about 20 meters (66 feet) away, was struck and killed, it continued.

Levi, 33, founded the unauthorized Meitarim Farm outpost in the South Hebron Hills of the West Bank in 2021.

All Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are considered illegal under international law by most of the international community and the United Nations, but settlers have successfully established dozens of unauthorized outposts in recent years and eventually secured Israeli government approvals.

In February 2024, Levi became one of the first hardline settlers targeted by US executive sanctions under the Biden administration and was subsequently sanctioned by the UK, Canada and the European Union. US sanctions against Levi and other West Bank settlers were reversed last year as one of Trump’s first executive orders upon his return to office.

The indictment comes as violence in the West Bank continues to escalate.

In late July, the Israeli military launched a large-scale operation there after four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers were killed. The incident began when settlers entered the village of Tell, in an area of the West Bank restricted for Israeli civilians, on what Israeli authorities called an “unauthorized and uncoordinated hike.”

As the group approached the village, clashes broke out between the settlers and residents. In the ensuing gunfire, four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers – one of whom was also a settler – were killed.

Despite video of the incident showing an altercation that escalated and the Israeli military acknowledging that the soldiers’ killings were not premeditated, a major operation was launched and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military to accelerate the establishment of more settlement outposts in the area.

This week, Israel’s military said it was unclear whether one of the Israeli soldiers killed in the incident was killed by Palestinian or “incidental” Israeli fire.

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