Palestinian Oscar-winning director Basel Adra said Israeli soldiers raided his home in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, searching for him and inspecting his wife’s phone while his 9-month-old daughter was inside.
Adra told The Associated Press that Israeli settlers also attacked his village, injuring two of his brothers and one cousin. He accompanied them to the hospital, where he learned that nine soldiers had stormed his home and briefly detained one of his uncles. Adra spent the night outside the village, unable to check on his family because soldiers were blocking the entrance.
Israel’s military said its forces were in the area after Palestinians reportedly threw rocks, injuring two Israeli civilians, and were conducting searches and questioning residents. Adra denied any rock-throwing and accused settlers of attacking villagers on their land.
Videos recorded by Adra’s cousin showed settlers assaulting his brother, Adam Adra, who sustained bruises to his hand, elbow, and chest. Another video showed a settler chasing a solidarity activist through an olive grove and tackling her.
Adra, a journalist and filmmaker documenting settler violence in Masafer Yatta, said the raid reflected intensified targeting since his documentary No Other Land won an Oscar for best documentary this year. The film portrays the struggle of Masafer Yatta residents against Israeli military demolition orders.
Co-director Yuval Abraham expressed concern over Adra’s safety, saying, “The Israeli settlers brutally attack a Palestinian village and later the army targets the Palestinians.”
Masafer Yatta, designated a live-fire military training zone in the 1980s, is home to about 1,000 Palestinians. Israeli settlements in the West Bank house more than 500,000 settlers, while Palestinians live under Israeli military rule, with the Palestinian Authority administering limited areas.
Settler attacks and Israeli military operations in the West Bank have surged amid the ongoing Gaza war, increasing tensions and fears of further expulsions in Masafer Yatta.