Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal freed from Israeli custody, hospitalized after beating

The co-director of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land claims that Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal is being treated in a hospital in Hebron following his imprisonment. Ballal was freed from Israeli custody in the occupied West Bank. 

More than ten settlers stormed Hamdan Ballal’s village of Susiya in the Masafer Yatta area on Monday night, leading to his detention along with other Palestinians. Witnesses reported that the Israeli military arrested him while he was receiving first aid in an ambulance.

A “group of settlers” allegedly attacked and assaulted Bilal, according to Yuval Abraham, the film’s other director. He continued, “He had head and stomach injuries and was bleeding, and when he called an ambulance, soldiers stormed it and took him away.”

A hospital in Hebron, a nearby Palestinian city, received Ballal, who had injuries on his face and clothing. He was beaten and threatened with weapons by soldiers and settlers, Bilal said to reporters after being freed, adding, “The soldiers fired three bullets in the air.” He went on to say that during his incarceration, he was shackled, blindfolded, and had to sit beneath an air conditioner, which kept him cold all night.

While watching settlers attacking his neighbor’s house, he was attacked; he explained, “I went there to document what was happening.” He claimed, “I was afraid they would come into my house or attack my children,” when the settlers started hurling stones. Soldiers and colonists beat him after he fled. Bilal stated from the hospital, “I was only thinking about my family and my kids at that time.” The soldiers yelled for him to get up, aimed their weapons at him, and pushed him to the ground. “It’s crazy to imagine your family and children at home, and you need to protect them.”

His co-director of “No Other Land,” Basel Adra, wrote on Instagram: “Hamdan has been freed and is currently undergoing treatment in a hospital in Hebron. He was tied and blindfolded during his incarceration at the military base last night, and troops and settlers beat him all over his body.”

There are no more Middle Eastern lands accessible for streaming.

“No Other Land,” the first Academy Award-winning Palestinian film, will be streamed in the Middle East on April 1.

Front Row Filmed Entertainment, a distribution business located in Dubai, has bought the film and will release it throughout the area. Both the Apple TV and the OSN Store will sell and rent it.