Hunger-striking women demand Israel return the body of Palestinian activist killed in settler clash

Sara Hathaleen and Myassar Hathaleen, two of dozens of Bedouin women on a hunger strike demanding that Israel return the body of a Palestinian activist killed during a clash with a Jewish settler, are seen in Umm al-Khair, West Bank, Monday, Aug. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Frankel)

UMM AL-KHAIR, West Bank — Nearly two dozen Bedouin women, enrobed in black, sat on the floor of a modest hut that baked under the desert sun of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The room was quiet, the women still.

The women are on a hunger strike to call for Israeli authorities to release the body of a beloved community leader killed during a clash with a Jewish settler last week. They say they will continue until the man’s remains are returned for burial in his hometown of Umm al-Khair.

Witnesses said Awdah Al Hathaleen was shot and killed by a radical Israeli settler during a confrontation caught on video. Israeli authorities said they would only return the body if the family agrees to certain conditions that would “prevent public disorder.” The villagers say those include limiting attendance for a funeral that would normally draw hundreds and burying him at night in a nearby city.

“We want him to be buried here in Umm al-Khair and have a respectable funeral without any conditions. What did we do to deserve this treatment? We did nothing,” said his mother, Khadra Hathaleen, 65, who is among the dozens of women, aged 15-70, from the village who are on strike.

The hunger strike, in its sixth day Tuesday, marks a rare public protest by a group of Bedouin women accustomed to mourning in private. Their move reflects their anger over Awdah’s death as well as what they perceive as Israel’s attempt to dictate unreasonable conditions that violate their customs, beliefs, and right to the land beneath them.

But beyond that, they say they have been forced to speak up after repeated settler attacks and Israeli raids have targeted their husbands, sons and fathers. Adding to their outrage, the settler suspected in the shooting, Yinon Levi, was quickly released by an Israeli court from his house arrest.

Their story won an Oscar, but their suffering continues

The plight of Palestinians in this area of the West Bank, known as Masafer Yatta, was featured in “No Other Land,” an Oscar-winning documentary about settler violence and life under Israeli military rule.

Al Hathaleen, a political activist and an English teacher, was a contributor to the film and close friend of its Palestinian co-directors.

It documents life in a region where Jewish residents are building new settlements and expanding old ones on hilltops ringing Palestinian villages — all while Israeli military bulldozers arrive frequently to demolish Palestinian homes they say amount to illegal construction. Palestinians say its nearly impossible to secure Israeli permits to build on their lands.

Four Palestinians have been killed by settlers this year, according to UN data.

Witnesses said that the confrontation that led to Al Hathaleen’s death began after settler excavators began digging on village land. Some Palestinians threw stones after one excavator injured a young man from the village, witnesses said. The Israeli military said that during the confrontation Palestinians hurled rocks at an Israeli civilian, who opened fire toward the “terrorists.”

Levi, a well known settler who is under international sanctions for violence toward Palestinians, was briefly arrested last week. He was quickly freed from house arrest, with a judge ruling there was no proof that Levi fired the fatal bullets.

Video shot by a Palestinian witness showed Levi firing a gun twice and tussling with a group of unarmed Palestinians. In the footage, Levi accused the group of throwing rocks at him. It did not show where his shots landed.

But residents said that he fired the bullet that hit Al Hathaleen in the chest, and that no one else in the encounter was armed.

Israeli military and police did not respond to requests for comment on who else could have fired the fatal shot. Levi could not be reached for comment; multiple calls to his phone went unanswered.

Since the killing, Israeli forces returned to the village and arrested 18 men. Villagers said at least one remains in jail — the hunger strikers are also demanding his release.

A feeling of complete vulnerability

On Monday, a week after Al Hathaleen was killed, Levi was back within eyesight of the village, the sound of his excavators pummeling the ground audible from the hut where the hunger-striking women sat.

To Sara Hathaleen, it was a reminder of the village’s vulnerability.

“They come at 2 o’clock or 3 o’clock in the morning,” said the 39-year-old, who is Al Hathaleen’s sister-in-law. “It’s like a horror, because we hear their cars and we know that they are coming for us. We don’t know who will be next, or who they will take next.”

Most of Umm al-Khair’s residents are related — some closely, some distantly — and nearly all share the surname Hathaleen. Al Hathaleen and his wife use an alternate spelling.

Sara Hathaleen said her own husband, Aziz, was detained by Israel after the killing and released Tuesday.

“We want to have a voice and to take part,” she said. “The men are hurt by settlers or taken by the army, put in prison, and are not available.”

Three of the women on strike — Al Hathaleen’s mother, sister and widow — have needed medical attention, according to Sara Hathaleen.

Israeli military and police did not respond to requests for comment on the strike.

Demanding to be heard

Myassar Hathaleen, 32, sat in the fasting hut with the other women. Since she stopped eating, her breast milk has dried up and she wakes at night to her infant crying to be breastfed.

Her brother, Hamid, was arrested the day Al Hathaleen was killed and he has not yet been released.

“We’re striking because the world needs to wake up,” said Myassar. “We don’t want to make any problems. We just want to live in justice, and in silence.”

Hanady Al Hathaleen, 24, said that she will settle for nothing less than a proper burial for her husband in his hometown.

“Awdah was killed here because he was resistant, in his own way,” she said. “He was killed here and he must be buried here. The land of Umm al-Khair drinks from his blood.”

Julia Frankel, The Associated Press