Hamdan Ballal, a Palestinian filmmaker behind the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land,” has been released by Israeli forces after being assaulted by settlers in the West Bank and detained by soldiers on Monday, his lawyer said.
Ballal was attacked by a group of Israeli settlers who invaded the Palestinian village of Susiya, the lawyer, Lea Tsemel, told NBC News. According to his co-director, Yuval Abraham, who reported the attack on X, Ballal sustained injuries to his head and stomach.
Ballal and two other Palestinians who were detained with him were released Tuesday afternoon from police custody, according to Tsemel. They were not charged with any crimes, Tsemel said.
Journalists with The Associated Press reported seeing bruises on Ballal’s face and blood on his clothes as he was released. Ballal and the two other Palestinians who were detained were transported to a nearby hospital, the AP reported.
Five activists from the Center for Jewish Nonviolence who were at the scene told The Guardian that dozens of masked settlers — some of whom were armed — entered Susiya after nightfall, accompanied by Israeli soldiers. They threw stones at Ballal’s house, chased him to his home, beat him, and then handed him to the military, the activists said. They threw stones at Ballal’s house, chased him to his home, beat him and then handed him to the military, the activists said.
Ballal’s wife told reporters that she was inside their house with their three children at the time of the alleged attack. She said she heard her husband screaming, “I’m dying!” and that she witnessed three men in uniform beating him with the butts of their rifles.
The CJNV activists, who are Jewish American, said Israeli police officers who arrived at the scene in a car “refused to get out of the vehicle and intervene” and instead began interrogating the activists.
Ballal was handcuffed and blindfolded, bleeding from the head, and he was moved to a military vehicle, The Guardian reported.
A spokesperson with the Israeli Defense Forces told NBC News there were “violent clashes” between Israelis and Palestinians near Susiya that erupted after “several terrorists threw stones at Israeli civilians and damaged their vehicles.”
The spokesperson said Israeli soldiers and police had stones thrown at them when they arrived at the scene, adding:








