One year after Awdah Hathaleen's killing, Israeli settler violence and settlement expansion push Umm al-Khair to the brink

The sign reads: Umm al-Khair, but the Israeli flags closing in around it tell another story. Surrounded by stars of David, the small Palestinian village of Umm al-Khair appears to have been swallowed up by the Carmel Israeli settlement.

One life after another, one piece of land after another; this is how the landscape of the West Bank is being transformed by Israeli settler colonialism. 

Today in Umm al-Khair, around 200 people live in a state of constant uncertainty, suspended between staying and being violently forced to leave. Every day here carries the possibility that it could be their last.

A year ago, Umm al-Khair suffered the loss of one of its most prominent voices. On 28 July 2025, Palestinian activist, English teacher, and father of three Awdah Hathaleen was shot and killed by Israeli settler Yinon Levi during a confrontation over the arrival of machinery linked to illegal settlement expansion near the village. 

Awdah, who had spent years documenting settler violence and supporting his community in Masafer Yatta, was killed as residents attempted to prevent damage to village land and infrastructure. 

One year later, his family continues to demand accountability, while Umm al-Khair faces growing pressure from Israeli settler violence, demolition orders, and the expansion of surrounding settlements.

"My brother was filming the bulldozers. I was building a new guesthouse when they called me and told me the settlers were here. I barely had time to put on my shoes, and when I arrived, Awdah's body was already on the ground, and there was blood everywhere. His son Mohammed's t-shirt was red with his father's blood, as were his hands," Khalil Hathaleen tells The New Arab.

To this day, the Kiryat Arba Israeli police station has not completed the investigation into Awdah's killer.

"We have documents, files, and clear, direct evidence that the settlers killed Awdah, but recently, when I called the lawyer, I was told that the investigation had not yet been completed. The person who killed my brother is free. After Awdah's killing, 20 members of my family were arrested, yet the person who killed him is still free," Khalil adds. 

"Over the last year, Israeli settler violence has increased significantly. They have beaten up many people; in the last two weeks alone, they injured 20"

As he speaks, we seek refuge from the scorching heat in the new clinic built after Awdah's killing, while outside, dozens of Palestinian and Jewish activists prepare for the commemoration of his assassination.

"This clinic," Khalil continues, "we had it built in memory of Awdah. Before his death, we didn't have anything like it. When he was shot, we didn't know how to stop the blood gushing from my brother's body."

Since Awdah was killed in Umm al-Khair, a final demolition order has been issued for the entire community.

Settlers have cut the water and electricity pipes, closed the road that allowed children to reach the only school, and cut down more than 500 olive trees.

"Over the last year, settler violence has increased significantly. They have beaten up many people; in the last two weeks alone, they injured 20. They attack houses, cars, everything," Khalil tells The New Arab.

"They don't allow Palestinian shepherds to go out and graze. They kill the animals, shoot at water tanks and sheep. Settler attacks have become the norm. In this community, we cannot plan anything for tomorrow; our daily schedule begins when the settlers arrive early in the morning." 

A village split by settlements

Over the past year, seven new caravans have completely cut the village in two.

"Umm al-Khair today is a completely different place. We used to be surrounded on three sides by a settlement that arrived decades after the founding of the village. Now we are completely surrounded," explains Robert (Bob) Suberi, a Jewish American activist who for years has lived half of his life here, standing between the settlers and the Palestinians.

"Not only that, but we have an outpost inside the village. If you look at the caravans and how they are built, they form a line that divides Umm al-Khair in two. They have built a road that goes from the last caravan to the settlement's entrance, which will eventually have a gate to isolate the two halves," he explains. 

"The land in between is owned by the village of Tuba, but it was stolen by the settlers. Now the caravans separate the two halves of Umm al-Khair, and the intention is obvious: to divide the village, to cut it in half. The other side is in even worse condition, because if the road to that other village is closed with a gate, they will have no access to the main road," the activist continues while holding a gift made by Awdah before his death.

A first-generation Palestinian Jew, Robert was born in Los Angeles in 1948 to a Palestinian mother and a Yemeni father. Today he defines himself as a "recovering former Zionist" and argues that settlers are "weaponising Judaism, using religion to justify violence."

This is why he believes it is important to stay, to document and denounce, even though since Awdah's killing, several activists who were very close to him can no longer continue to fight as they did before.

"This country is in a disastrous situation," he adds. "I try to hold onto hope that things can change, but I don't see any chance of that happening unless the United States and Europe cut their support for Israel.

"We need to stop supplying weapons, stop giving military support, because they can't do what they are doing without Europe and America. Just think about how much they invest to demolish a simple sheep shack: they bring trailers, bulldozers, and army units to isolate the area. It is a huge expense."

On Wednesday, several Israeli opposition members of parliament marched, as Awdah's wife and mother continued to mourn a loss for which they say justice has yet to come.

Naama Lazimi, member of the HaDemokratim party (The Democrats), the centre-left political faction formed in Israel through the merger of the Labour Party and Meretz, arrived in the morning, took a tour of the village, and then met Awdah's wife: "How will I raise my children? How will I teach peace if their father was murdered and the killer hasn't even been arrested? It's an injustice; it's just me, and the kids are left. We don't want to be afraid anymore; we don't want to be terrified every day," the woman shouted to the parliamentarian.

Several female activists were there to hold her hand. But the support is not enough to heal a wound that continues to be inflicted.

Shortly after the start of the commemoration, Israeli soldiers raided Umm al-Khair en masse, blocking the ceremonies and denying Awdah his freedom even in death, exactly as they did on the day of his funeral.

"They only gave us the body back 11 days after his killing, and only after the hunger strike that the women of Umm al-Khair held to get it back," Awdah's brother, Khalil, continues.

"My mother was never allowed to see Awdah's body, and today she cannot even commemorate him."

The elderly woman sits beyond the iron railing that separates her from the soldiers, her hands supporting her face while her gaze is lost amidst tears and anger.

Meanwhile, Ofer Cassif, a Knesset member for the left-wing Hadash-Ta'al coalition, known for his staunch opposition to the occupation of Palestinian territories and his harsh criticism of Israel's military actions in the Gaza Strip, is shoved to the ground by soldiers.

The parliamentarian stated shortly after: "There's no hostility between Palestinians and Israelis, between Arabs and Jews. The hostility is only between those like us, all of us, who seek justice and those who do evil. We shall prevail! We shall prevail! The name of Awdah Hathaleen will be commemorated."

An uncertain future

Today, the most important electoral game in Israel's history is being played out over the West Bank and the blood of Palestinians: both the religious far-right, which aims for the annexation of the West Bank and the colonisation of Gaza, and the democrats and left wings parties, which wants to stop extremist settlers, see this piece of land and the blood staining it, as a place to advance their electoral campaigns.

"Regarding the right-wing specifically, I think they understand that they are close to losing these elections and are trying to make as many moves as possible before being ousted. The question is how far they will go, and we will see that in the coming weeks," comments Andrey Ilyich Khrzhanovskiy, known online as Andrey X, an activist who has documented Israeli settler violence in the West Bank for years.

"I don't believe there is any possible governing coalition capable of bringing about any kind of liberation; all options will continue to colonise and enforce Jewish supremacy, because that is what the country is founded upon. However, with a government that does not include Ben-Gvir, Smotrich, and Netanyahu, it will be much more difficult for the settlers," he adds. 

"Right now, the far-right controls all the main positions. Smotrich, who is the de facto Governor of the West Bank and sees the ethnic cleansing of the West Bank as his life's mission, directs all his moves in this direction. If a less unhinged person were in the role of Minister of Finance and Governor of the West Bank, there would be fewer funds available to the settlers," Andrey tells The New Arab. 

According to Mohammed Huraini, an activist from At Tuwani, a village just minutes away from Umm al-Khair, even if the Israeli leadership were to change, little will change on the ground: "We always say that yesterday was better than today, and today is better than tomorrow. So, unless this world decides to rise up and stop this bloody machine, things will only get worse," the activist tells The New Arab. 

"Wherever you go, from Masafer Yatta to the northern West Bank, the situation is the same. Israel is unleashing these settler militias to attack Palestinians in their homes and destroy their crops, preventing them from even approaching their own lands. It is very clear how Israel is intensifying its efforts in an attempt to definitively close the issue of the West Bank."

Yet, as the title of the film featuring Awdah states, for these people there's "no other land." Staying is the only option.

When Khalil is asked, after his brother's death, if he still wants his children to grow up here, he answers with tears in his eyes: "For me, there is no choice. We have paid a high price for this land. If we now leave the land and leave the community, what will I say to Awdah and my uncle Suleiman when I am dead? That I left Umm al-Khair after them? We have no choice, we have no other land."

Lidia Ginestra Giuffrida is a Sicilian freelance journalist focusing on human rights, migration, and conflict. She has reported extensively from across war zones, including Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, and Ukraine. Her work has appeared in Al Jazeera and New Lines Magazine, and she is a regular contributor to Italian outlets

Follow her on Instagram: @lidia_ginestra_giuffrida

Stefano Stranges is an independent Italian photographer and photojournalist

Follow him on Instagram: @stef_stranges