The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) have arrested Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Al-Huraini, one of the co-directors of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, during an attack by settlers on the Palestinian community of Susiya, south of Hebron, on Monday evening.
Al-Huraini, who co-directed the documentary alongside Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, and Rachel Szor, was detained while helping to evacuate an injured person to hospital following the assault. According to eyewitnesses and human rights defenders, Israeli settlers carried out a violent raid on the village, injuring several Palestinians and vandalising property. Israeli forces, rather than intervening to stop the attack, reportedly arrested three Palestinians—including Al-Huraini—while allowing the settlers to continue their assault unimpeded.
The documentary No Other Land, which received the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 97th Oscars in Los Angeles earlier this month, chronicles the forced displacement of a Palestinian family from their home in the village of Masafer Yatta in the occupied West Bank. The film’s powerful narrative has drawn international attention to the issue of Israeli expulsions in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Testimonies published by Haaretz indicate that the soldiers involved in the arrest belonged to an emergency unit comprised of settlers, highlighting the increasing collusion between Israeli military forces and settler militias.
Eyewitnesses also reported that the settlers destroyed water tanks, shattered vehicle windows, and stole surveillance cameras during the attack, while Israeli police failed to intervene or hold the perpetrators accountable.
Since the beginning of the assault on Gaza on 7 October 2023, Israeli forces have intensified their repression across the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem. According to official Palestinian figures, more than 937 Palestinians have been killed, nearly 7,000 injured, and over 15,700 arbitrarily detained.
These actions are widely viewed by legal experts and rights organisations as forms of collective punishment—prohibited under Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Furthermore, the targeting of journalists, activists, and artists represents a grave violation of the right to freedom of expression as enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Al-Huraini’s arrest is being seen as a direct attempt to silence Palestinian voices that bring international attention to the realities of occupation and forced displacement. Only weeks after the documentary’s global recognition for exposing systemic abuses, his detention sends a chilling message aimed at deterring others from speaking out.
The continued silence of the international community in the face of these violations risks emboldening further repression. Human rights organisations are calling for the immediate release of Hamdan Al-Huraini and all those detained for exercising their fundamental freedoms, and for accountability mechanisms to be enacted to ensure the protection of Palestinian civil society under international law.
