Oscar-winning Palestinian director freed from Israeli detention after night in custody

Hamdan Ballal, one of the Palestinian co-directors of the Oscar-winning documentary film “No Other Land,” was released from Israeli custody on Tuesday, one day after he was assaulted by Israeli settlers in the West Bank and detained by Israeli forces. 

“After being handcuffed all night and beaten in a military base, Hamdan Ballal is now free and is about to go home to his family,” Yuval Abraham, Ballal’s Israeli co-director, wrote in a post on X.

What happened: On Monday night, roughly 15 Israeli settlers descended upon the village of Susiya in the Masafer Yatta area of southern Hebron governorate as residents were breaking their daily Ramadan fast. Videos circulating online showed masked settlers brandishing guns and throwing stones.

The head of the Susiya village council, Jihad al-Nawajaa, told the Palestinian WAFA news agency on Monday that armed settlers from a nearby settlement raided the village in an attempt to steal sheep, firing live ammunition in the air and destroying property including water tanks and vehicles.

The Center for Jewish Nonviolence, an international Jewish civil society organization, posted videos on Instagram of a settler shoving activists.

According to the center, the settlers, armed with batons, knives and at least one assault rifle, violently assaulted five Jewish American activists who were at the scene to document the attack. The settlers also used rocks to smash cars with activists inside them.

Israeli soldiers arrived at the scene and witnesses say that soldiers pointed their weapons at Palestinians while the settlers continued to attack.

The assailants then attacked Ballal's home, where they beat him. Basel Adra, Ballal’s fellow Palestinian co-director who was present at the scene, told the Associated Press that one settler known to regularly attack the village headed to Ballal’s home, accompanied by Israeli soldiers who were shooting in the air.

Adra said Ballal’s wife heard her husband being beaten outside and screaming, “I’m dying.”

The Palestinian director sustained several injuries, including to his head and stomach. While he was receiving medical attention in an ambulance, Israeli soldiers forcibly removed and detained him, said Abraham.

“He’s injured and being held at a police station in a settlement. They did not let his lawyer speak to him yet so we don’t know more,” Abraham wrote on X.

The group of armed KKK-like masked settlers that lynched No Other Land director Hamdan Ballal (still missing), caught here on camera. pic.twitter.com/kFGFxSEanY

— Yuval Abraham יובל אברהם (@yuval_abraham) March 24, 2025

 Two other Palestinians, identified as Khaled Shanran and Nasser Shreiteh, were detained during the incident, according to WAFA.

Leah Zemel, an Israeli lawyer representing the detainees, told the New York Times she was informed that the three men were held in a military center for medical treatment ahead of questioning. She was not provided with a reason for their detention.

The Israeli military acknowledged the incident in a post on X, saying it detained three Palestinians suspected of throwing stones at Israeli forces near Susiya and took them to a police station for questioning. The statement denied the claim that Ballal was arrested while in the ambulance.

According to the statement, the military deployed at the scene to disperse clashes that erupted after “a number of terrorists threw stones at Israeli civilians and damaged their vehicles near Susiya.”

Why it matters: The Israeli-Palestinian documentary “No Other Land,” directed by Ballal, Abraham, Adra and a fourth director, Israeli Rachel Szor, won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards held in Los Angeles on March 2.

The documentary chronicles Israeli forces’ continued efforts to evict Palestinians from their homes in Masafer Yatta, an area of dozens of Palestinian villages in Hebron in the southern West Bank.

The documentary follows Adra as he documents the evictions and demolition of Masafer Yatta, his home, throughout the years, which Israel designated as a military training zone in 1981.

Susiya, Ballal's home village, is featured in the documentary film. The village is repeatedly attacked by settlers from the nearby settlement of the same name that was established in 1983. In 2015, the Israeli High Court of Justice ruled to allow the Israeli military to demolish the village, putting hundreds of residents at risk of displacement. Currently, 55 families are believed to be living in Susiya, according to the United Nations humanitarian agency (OCHA).  

In his statement to AP, Adra claimed that since they came back from the Oscars, they have been repeatedly attacked. Commenting on Monday’s incident, he said, “This might be their revenge on us for making the movie. It feels like a punishment.”

The US-based International Documentary Association wrote in a post on Instagram, “We demand Ballal’s immediate release and that his family and community be informed about his condition, location and the justification for his detention.”

American actor Marc Ruffalo, known for his pro-Palestinian positions, shared an article about Ballal's attack in his Instagram stories.

Know more: Tensions in the West Bank have escalated over the past two years, with the emergence of several armed groups with ties to Hamas and Islamic Jihad leading armed attacks against Israeli forces and civilians in the West Bank and inside Israel.

In response, the Israeli military has carried out near-daily raids of West Bank towns and villages, prompting violent clashes with the local population. Since January, the military has been conducting a wide-scale campaign in the northern occupied West Bank, with the most violent fighting reported in the Jenin refugee camp.

According to OCHA data, at least 1,580 attacks by settlers have been reported in the West Bank between January 2024 and January 2025, resulting in casualties and property damages. More than 555 Palestinians including 102 children were killed in clashes with Israeli forces or settlers during the same period, while 27 Israelis, including 15 members of the Israeli forces, were reported killed.

This developing story has been updated since initial publication.