Palestinian film director attacked by settlers is freed

An Oscar-winning Palestinian film director who was attacked by Jewish settlers and detained by Israeli forces has been released from detention.

- Lorenzo Tondo

Hamdan Ballal and two other Palestinians yesterday left a police station in the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba, where they were being held. Ballal had bruises on his face and blood on his clothes.

The three had spent the night on the floor of a military base while suffering from serious injuries sustained in the attack, according to Ballal's lawyer, Lea Tsemel.

Earlier this month, Ballal and the other directors of No Other Land, which documents the struggles of living under Israeli occupation, appeared on stage at the 97th Academy Awards in Los Angeles to accept the award for best documentary film.

Tsemel said Ballal and the two others detained alongside him had been accused of throwing stones at a young settler, an allegation they deny. All three were driven to a hospital in the West Bank city of Hebron.

The film's co-director, Yuval Abraham, posted on X: "After the assault, Hamdan was handcuffed and blindfolded all night in an army base while two soldiers beat him up on the floor," his lawyer Leah Tsemel said after speaking with him just now.