Oscar-winning Palestinian director Hamdan Ballal has been released by the Israeli army after he was attacked by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank region.
In a post on social media platform X, No Other Land co-director Yuval Abraham stated that Ballal has been released.
Oscar-winning Palestinian director Hamdan Ballal has been released by the Israeli army after he was attacked by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank region.
In a post on social media platform X, No Other Land co-director Yuval Abraham stated that Ballal has been released.
"After being handcuffed all night and beaten in a military base, Hamdan Ballal is now free and is about to go home to his family.”
As per an AP report, journalists with the news agency saw Ballal and two other Palestinian people leave the police station in the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba, where all 3 of the people were detained.
As per Ballal's co-directors, he was lynched, assaulted and beaten up at the army base.
Speaking to AP, Ballal said he was held at an army base and forced to sleep under a freezing air conditioner.
“I was blindfolded for 24 hours. All the night I was freezing. It was a room, I couldn’t see anything … I heard the voice of soldiers laughing about me," he told the news agency.
As per Lea Tsemel, the attorney representing all three men which were detained, said that they received minimal care for their injuries from the attack.
She added that she had no access to Ballal and the other two men taken by the army for hours after their arrest.
Ballal is one of the co-directors of the documentary "No Other Land," which recieved the Academy Award for Best Documentary at the Oscars 2025.
The film follows Basel Adra and his life in Massafer Yetta, a Palestinian town in the occupied West Bank, under Israeli occupation.