(LONDON and JERUSALEM) — Palestinian Academy Award-winning filmmaker Hamdan Ballal was released from Israeli custody on Tuesday, friend and fellow filmmaker Yuval Abraham said, after Ballal was detained by Israeli security forces on Monday.
The co-director of “No Other Land” was detained by the Israel Police following a confrontation with Israeli settlers in the West Bank. Basel Adra — who shared the recent Oscar win — told ABC News that Ballal is believed to have been injured in what activists said was an attack by settlers on local Palestinian families.
Ballal was released on Tuesday, Abraham wrote on X. The filmmaker “is now free and is about to go home to his family,” he said.
Israel Police confirmed to ABC News that Ballal was among three people released “on conditions that include not contacting other people involved and providing a personal guarantee. The investigation is ongoing and additional arrests are expected.”
In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces said of Monday’s incident, “Several terrorists hurled rocks at Israeli citizens, damaging their vehicles” near Susiya, a village located to the south of the southern West Bank city of Hebron.
“Following this, a violent confrontation broke out, involving mutual rock-hurling between Palestinians and Israelis at the scene,” the IDF said. “IDF and Israeli Police forces arrived to disperse the confrontation, at this point, several terrorists began hurling rocks at the security forces.”
“In response, the forces apprehended three Palestinians suspected of hurling rocks at them, as well as an Israeli civilian involved in the violent confrontation. The detainees were taken for further questioning by the Israel Police. An Israeli citizen was injured in the incident and was evacuated to receive medical treatment.”
Israel Police confirmed to ABC News in a statement that Ballal was arrested and taken to Kiryat Arba police station. The force said Ballal was under investigation.
“No Other Land,” which won best documentary at this year’s Oscars, details the efforts of the residents of Masafer Yatta to stop the demolition of their villages by the IDF and harassment by Israeli settlers. Both Ballal and Adra are residents of Masafar Yatta.
Nasser Nawaja, a field researcher working for B’Tselem — a human rights organization based in Jerusalem — told ABC News on Monday that he was with Ballal before the filmmaker was arrested.
“For the past month, there have been attacks every single day,” Nawaja said. “The settlers are trying to pressure us to leave Susiya.”
Settler attacks began on Monday morning at around 7:30 a.m. local time, Nawaja said. “We called the Israeli police. When they arrived, they told us, ‘The settlers are allowed to graze here.’ But it’s our private land. It’s our homes.”
At around 6 p.m., Nawaja said the settlers “attacked” local families, throwing stones at a house and trying to “shoot the family’s sheep.”
Activist Anna Lippman told ABC News that she and a group of fellow activists were also attacked by stone-throwing Israeli settlers outside the village of Susiya on Monday evening after they arrived to come to the aid of Ballal.
The incident started at the house of Ballal’s neighbor, Lippman said, before moving on to Ballal’s house.
Adra said he saw two settlers with guns and that most of the attackers were masked.
“Hamdan was just standing there when the settlers came at him too,” Nawaja said. “They destroyed the water tanks. And not long after that, the soldiers arrested him. We haven’t heard anything about him since.”
“Hamdan ran home,” Nawaja added. “He got his wife and children inside, and stood in the doorway to protect them. That’s when the soldiers arrested him. I got close enough to film it. He was blindfolded, handcuffed, and taken away in a military vehicle — along with two other Palestinians.”
“Later, I spoke with Hamdan’s wife,” Nawaja said. “She told me he was beaten. But she’s too afraid to speak to journalists. Another journalist tried, and she said no.”
“He spent years documenting what was happening to us,” Nawaja said. “And now it’s happening to him. And we don’t even know where he is.”
The Israeli military designated Masafer Yatta as a live-fire training zone in the 1980s and ordered residents to be expelled, prompting a 20-year legal battle.
Israel’s Supreme Court upheld the expulsion order in 2022, though approximately 1,000 residents remain in place. Israeli forces regularly move in to demolish homes and other structures. Locals say Israeli settlers have also set up several outposts nearby since the court’s 2022 decision.
Both Ballal and Adra are residents of Masafar Yatta. The film also has two Israeli directors — Abraham and Rachel Szor.
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti, Ellie Kaufman, Chris Looft and Dragana Jovanovic contributed to this report.
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