Palestinian filmmaker of the Oscar-winning documentary 'No Other Land', Hamdan Ballal was 'arrested' by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank after he was attacked and injured by Israeli settlers.
Ballal's being taken away by the forces was confirmed by his fellow co-director. "A group of settlers just lynched Hamdan Ballal...They beat him and he has injuries in his head and stomach, bleeding,” Fellow co-director Yuval Abraham wrote on X.
Abraham also added that the soldiers invaded the ambulance and took him. "No sign of him since," he added.
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
The violence against Ballal is part of the attacks in the region on activists and supporters of Palestine.
A video of the incident, that happened on Monday night, revealed masked men attacking the activists in a dusty field during the night. The video captured a settler aggressively shoving and swinging his fists at two activists.
"Back to the car, back to the car!" one of them shouted.
It is not the first the Israeli settlers have attacked the activists or villagers, they were accused of raiding Palestinian villages and encampments in the West Bank to steal livestock and other items.
Lamia Ballal, the filmmaker's wife, said settlers had gathered around the family house and her husband had gone outside to prevent them from breaking in, reported Reuters.
In a statement, the Israeli forces said that they had apprehended three Palestinians suspected of hurling rocks at them, as well as an Israeli settlers involved in the attack.
The troops denied any arrests made.
Meanwhile, the lawyer for an Oscar-winning Palestinian director, Lea Tsemel, the attorney for Hamdan Ballal, said Tuesday that he and two other Palestinians spent the night on the floor of a military base while suffering from serious injuries sustained in the attack.
