Prosecutors reportedly to charge settler with reckless homicide over killing of Palestinian activist last year

Prosecutors will file a reckless homicide indictment against extremist settler Yinon Levy for allegedly shooting Palestinian activist Awdah Hathaleen last year during a confrontation inside the West Bank village of Umm al-Khair, the Haaretz daily reports.

It marks a rare instance in which a case of settler violence is being prosecuted.

Reckless homicide refers to a situation in which someone knows they are taking an unreasonable risk that could cause death. If convicted, the charge carries a sentence of up to 12 years in jail, Haaretz notes.

Hathaleen, who was featured in the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land” about Israeli home demolitions in the West Bank, was allegedly shot dead by Levi when the latter operated an excavator inside Umm al-Khair and damaged trees and a water pipe inside the village.

Levi founded and operates an illegal farming outpost, Meitarim Farms, in the South Hebron Hills region where Umm al-Khair is located. He also owns a construction and demolition company which is subcontracted by the IDF to carry out demolitions in the West Bank of illegal Palestinian construction.

Levi has also been working in Gaza City, doing demolition work for the army there.

Civil rights organizations have repeatedly accused Levi of being responsible for severe violence and harassment against local Palestinians, using Meitarim Farms as a base for him and young settler extremists to intimidate and attack local communities such as Khirbet Zanuta, whose residents eventually fled their homes in October 2023 in the face of such harassment.