Greater than 60 Palestinian girls are staging a starvation strike to demand the discharge of the physique of Palestinian activist and English trainer Awdah Hathaleen, who was shot lifeless final week within the village of Umm al-Kheir, south of Hebron within the occupied West Financial institution.
Two girls have obtained medical remedy because of the collective motion, which began on Thursday.
The group is demanding the unconditional launch of the physique of the 31-year-old neighborhood chief who co-directed No Other Land, a documentary movie that received an Oscar award this 12 months. Israeli police set a number of circumstances, together with holding a fast and quiet burial at night time outdoors the village, with not more than 15 individuals in attendance.
The protesters are additionally demanding the discharge of seven Umm al-Kheir residents arrested by Israeli forces who stay in administrative detention – a quasi-judicial course of beneath which Palestinians are held with out cost or trial.
Umm al-Kheir is a part of Masafer Yatta, a string of Palestinian hamlets positioned on the hills south of Hebron, the place residents have fought for many years to stay of their houses after Israel declared the world an Israeli army “firing” or coaching zone.
Iman Hathaleen, Awdah’s cousin, stated girls aged 13 to 70 had been collaborating within the starvation strike. “Now, as I’m speaking, I’m ravenous and I’m breastfeeding,” she instructed Al Jazeera. “We’ll proceed this till they launch the physique, in order that we are able to honour him with the appropriate Islamic custom. We’ve to grieve him as our faith instructed us to.”
Awdah was taken by an ambulance to Soroka hospital in Beer Sheva on July 28, the place he was pronounced lifeless after having been shot by an Israeli settler. The police transferred his physique to the Abu Kabir Nationwide Institute of Forensic Drugs in Jaffa for an post-mortem, which was accomplished on Wednesday. They then refused to return the physique until the household agreed to restrictive circumstances on the funeral and burial.
‘A tactic to interrupt their spirit’
Fathi Nimer, a researcher on the Al-Shabaka suppose tank, stated Israel’s coverage of withholding the physique of a Palestinian was widespread apply. “This isn’t an remoted incident; there are a whole lot of Palestinians whose our bodies are used as bargaining chips in order that their households cease any form of activism or resistance or to interrupt the spirit of resistance,” Nimer instructed Al Jazeera.
“Awdah was very cherished within the village, so this can be a tactic to interrupt their spirit,” he added.
In the meantime, Yinon Levi, the Israeli settler accused of firing the lethal pictures, was launched after spending a couple of days on home arrest. A video of the incident filmed by native activists exhibits Levi opening fireplace on Awdah, who died from a gunshot wound to his chest.
An Israeli settler simply shot Odeh Hadalin within the lungs, a exceptional activist who helped us movie No Different Land in Masafer Yatta. Residents recognized Yinon Levi, sanctioned by the EU and US, because the shooter. That is him within the video firing like loopy. pic.twitter.com/xH1Uo6L1wN
— Yuval Abraham יובל אברהם (@yuval_abraham) July 28, 2025
Residents in Umm al-Kheir on Monday documented Levi’s return to the world. Footage shared on social media teams depicted him overseeing bulldozing work alongside military officers on the close by Carmel settlement.
Levi is amongst a number of Israeli settlers within the occupied West Financial institution who had been previously sanctioned beneath the previous administration of United States President Joe Biden for perpetrating violence in opposition to Palestinians.
US President Donald Trump reversed these sanctions in an government order shortly after taking workplace for a second time period in January. The UK and the European Union, nonetheless, keep sanctions in opposition to Levi.
Nimer stated sanctions in opposition to people do little to cease settler violence and the growth of Israel’s unlawful outposts. “It’s not simply people – there must be actual worldwide motion to sanction Israel and to cease any of this type of behaviour,” he stated.
A ‘steady trauma’
Iman, Awdah’s cousin, stated Levi’s return makes her apprehensive about her household’s security. “At the moment, we’re afraid that he’s again and might do that once more, possibly he’ll shoot another person,” she instructed Al Jazeera. Her father, Suleiman Hathaleen, was killed by an Israeli bulldozer in 2022.
Oneg Ben Dror, a Jaffa-based activist and good friend of the Hathaleen household, stated the starvation strike was a determined gesture for a neighborhood that has misplaced all hope of acquiring justice through authorized means.
“The ladies really feel that it’s their strategy to protest, it’s a final resort to convey again the physique,” she stated. “The neighborhood wants the likelihood to mourn and… begin the restoration from this horrible homicide.”
She added that the presence of Levi and different settlers on the bottom in Umm al-Kheir was a “steady trauma and a nightmare for the neighborhood and for his spouse”, who has been widowed whereas caring for 3 younger youngsters.
Dozens of left-wing Israeli and worldwide activists on Sunday took half in a march in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv to echo the calls for voiced by the starvation strikers. 4 activists had been arrested in the course of the demonstrations.
The United Nations workplace has reported 757 settler assaults on Palestinians since January, up 13 p.c from 2024, as deaths since January close to 1,000.
The Israeli military has additionally intensified raids throughout the occupied West Financial institution and the demolition of a whole lot of houses. On Monday, two Palestinians had been killed by Israeli forces within the city of Qabatiya, south of Jenin. The Israeli municipality additionally issued a demolition order concentrating on the house of Palestinian residents in Silwan, in occupied East Jerusalem.
Palestinian authorities say 198 Palestinians had been killed within the West Financial institution for the reason that starting of the 12 months, whereas 538 had been killed in 2024. Not less than 188 our bodies are nonetheless being withheld by Israeli authorities.
