Well-known Palestinian activist was shot dead by settler in West Bank, witnesses say

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Well-known Palestinian activist Owdeh Hathaleen, a consultant for the Oscar-winning documentary "No Other Land," was shot and killed in the occupied West Bank by an Israeli settler on Monday, five people who said they witnessed the shooting told Reuters.

The Israeli army said in a statement on Tuesday that "terrorists hurled rocks toward Israeli civilians near Carmel," an Israeli settlement near the village of Umm al-Khair.

The military said that an armed civilian then fired towards those throwing rocks, adding that the army was aware of reports of unspecified injuries to individuals and had transferred the incident to the police.

The police said it had launched an investigation that was in its "early stages" and that an Israeli individual had been detained.

"Additionally, four Palestinians were arrested by IDF soldiers for their involvement in the incident, as well as two foreign tourists who were present at the site," the police said in a statement.

"As a result of the incident, the death of a Palestinian was confirmed," said the statement.

Palestinian state media reported that Hathaleen was the man killed.

Alaa Hathaleen, Owdeh's cousin, filmed the incident on his phone. He said his cousin "was far away and not doing anything" when he was shot.

"Why does it always have to be us on the losing side, to feel this sort of pain daily, to lose people we love?" Alaa Hathaleen said in an interview with Reuters.

The video shows a confrontation between a group of men screaming in Arabic and a man holding a gun. The gun-holder then fires into the air and towards the crowd. Screams are heard and people can be seen running away.

Reuters was able to confirm the location of the video by the buildings, tower structure in the background, and road and village layout, which matched file and satellite imagery of the area. The date could not be verified.

Owdeh Hathaleen aided the producer of the 2024 film "No Other Land," which documented the life of Palestinians in the West Bank and included settler attacks.

B'Tselem and other rights groups say settler violence in the West Bank has risen since the start of Israel's war against Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza in late 2023.

Dozens of Israelis have also been killed in street attacks by Palestinians in recent years, and the Israeli military has intensified raids across the West Bank.

Around 700,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, territories Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 war, which Palestinians see as part of a future state.

(Reporting by Yosri Aljamal and Emily Rose, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)