Washington, DC – A spokesperson for the State Department in the United States has been questioned about the killing of Palestinian activist Awdah Hathaleen, allegedly at the hands of an Israeli settler previously sanctioned by the US government.
At a news briefing on Tuesday, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce demurred when asked whether the suspect in Hathaleen’s death, Yinon Levi, would be held accountable.
“Israel has investigations that it’s implementing regarding situations of this sort,” Bruce said. “I don’t know the end result of what that’s going to be, nor will I comment or speculate on what should happen.”
Bruce’s tense exchange with reporters came one day after video circulated showing Levi opening fire on Hathaleen in the village of Umm al-Kheir in the occupied West Bank.
The 31-year-old Palestinian activist later died from a gunshot wound to his chest.
Levi is among several Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank who were previously sanctioned under the former administration of US President Joe Biden for perpetrating violence against Palestinians.
But President Donald Trump reversed those sanctions in an executive order shortly after taking office for a second term in January. The United Kingdom and the European Union, however, maintain sanctions against Levi.
Hathaleen, a resident of Masafer Yatta, had helped create the Academy Award-winning documentary No Other Land, which captured the effects of Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international law, and attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.
In Tuesday’s news briefing, Bruce appeared to suggest that Hathaleen’s shooting happened in the “war zone” of Gaza, before being corrected.
Still, she maintained that the Trump administration sought to address violence wherever it occurred.
“It’s the same argument. We see this in the West Bank. We know when there’s violence in general. We saw something unfold in New York City as well, with a shooting in New York City yesterday,” she said, in an apparent reference to an unrelated shooting in a Manhattan skyscraper.
The State Department did not respond to a subsequent request from Al Jazeera about whether the Trump administration would revisit its sanctions policy in light of the killing.
On Tuesday, Israeli media reported that Levi had been placed on house arrest after being charged with manslaughter and unlawful firearm use.
Illegal settlements and Trump
Hathaleen wasa father of three who coordinated with several influential advocacy and lobbying groups in the US, and his death has renewed scrutiny of Trump’s policies towards illegal Israeli settlements in occupied territories like the West Bank.
During his first term, Trump reversed a longstanding policy recognising such settlements as illegal. Such settlements are in violation of international law and widely seen as a means of displacing Palestinians and seizing their lands.
But Israeli settlements have continued to spread rapidly in recent years and are seen as a major roadblock to future peace agreements with Palestinian leaders.
Upon taking office earlier this year, Trump revoked many Biden-era executive orders, including the sanctions against Israeli settlers. The move reportedly came amid pressure from the Israeli government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
During his term, Biden had been criticised for continuing to funnel aid to Israel amid its war in Gaza, but his administration showed a willingness to take a harder line when it came to settlements in the occupied West Bank.
“The situation in the West Bank — in particular high levels of extremist settler violence, forced displacement of people and villages, and property destruction — has reached intolerable levels,” Biden’s executive order, dated February 2024, said.
It added that Israeli actions in the West Bank constitute “a serious threat to the peace, security, and stability of the West Bank and Gaza, Israel, and the broader Middle East region”.
Violence on the part of Israeli settlers and military forces has surged since Israel’s war in Gaza began on October 7, 2023, with at least 1,000 Palestinians killed in the West Bank.
Rights observers say violent settlers are often protected by the military as they attack Palestinians.
Those killed have included US citizens, most recently Sayfollah Musallet, a 20-year-old resident of Florida, beaten to death while visiting his family’s land in the village of Sinjil.
In a rare statement condemning Musallet’s killing, US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, a vocal supporter of Israeli settlements, called on the country to “aggressively investigate” what he called a “criminal and terrorist act”.
To date, no one has been arrested or charged in the killing.
In a statement following Monday’s attack, J Street, a left-leaning pro-Israel lobbying group, called on US lawmakers to support legislation that would codify the Biden-era sanctions against settlers like Levi.
The group explained that its members had “deep, personal ties” to Hathaleen, and said they were “heartbroken and horrified” by his killing.
In a post on the social media platform X on Tuesday, Congress member Delia Ramirez called Hathaleen’s killing “a painful reminder that our government and Israel continue to enable and condone violence in the West Bank”.
“We must reinstate the sanctions on West Bank settlers perpetrating violence and hold accountable all those whose extreme and escalating violence continues to rob us of our neighbors — including Trump and Netanyahu,” she wrote.
SPOT also added 18 million monthly active users in the period to reach 696 million, while total revenue grew 15% year-on-year on a constant currency basis.
All of which wasn’t enough to make Wall Street happy.
Partly due to share price-connected compensation payouts, SPOT posted a net quarterly loss and lowered Q3 profit forecasts – resulting in its market cap value sinking by over $16 billion today. Oucha.
However, Q2 contained a number of significant milestones for Spotify, including surpassing 100 million subscribers in Europe, its largest region.
In fact, on its Q2 earnings call today, SPOT shared some remarkable market share statistics that underscore its dominance in global music streaming.
Here are seven key things we learned from that call…
1. Over 3% of the world now subscribes to Spotify – but it wants much more
Spotify Co-President Gustav Söderström threw up a few brain-busting stats on today’s call, including: “Excluding China and Russia, 45% of people who pay for a music streaming service subscribe to Spotify, according to Midia Research. And that percentage has been steadily growing over the years.”
Even more striking: Spotify’s share of total music consumption. “According to Luminate, 65% of global audio music streams now happen on Spotify,” said Söderström.
“Over 3% of the world’s population subscribes to Spotify… it’s not implausible to imagine us reaching 10% or even 15% of the world’s population.”
Alex Norström, Spotify
To put this in perspective, Luminate’s latest H1 2025 data showed total global audio streams reached approximately 2.5 trillion in the first half of 2025.
This implies that Spotify alone accounted for around 1.6 trillion streams during that period.
Such figures help explain CEO Daniel Ek‘s confidence about future growth potential.
“Over 3% of the world’s population subscribes to Spotify,” noted SPOT’s Chief Business Officer, Alex Norström, today.
“That’s pretty astounding, but also really encouraging when you think about how far we can still grow from here. And it’s not implausible to imagine us reaching 10% or even 15% of the world’s population.”
2. Spotify remains notably cagey on its long-awaited ‘Music Pro’ tier… despite being directly asked about it (again)
Despite months of industry speculation about Spotify’s ‘super premium’ tier launch – dubbed ‘Music Pro’ – the company offered few concrete details when directly questioned about it during today’s call.
When Bank of America analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich (pictured inset) asked about “introducing a tier, whether it be ‘superfan’ or something else across your platform globally,” Norström provided a somewhat evasive response.
“We’re really excited about engaging ‘superfans’, as you know, and we’re building something great for them,” said Norström.
“But what investors really need to understand is how we build out our products at Spotify. As long as I’ve been here, which is now close to 15 years, we’ve had very high value standards around what – and when – to release product.”
“we’re making progress [on ‘Music Pro’] for sure, but it’s taking time. And in music, of course, we’re reliant on our partners to a certain degree.”
Alex Norström, Spotify
He added: “We’re working towards these very high-value standards, and we’re making progress [on ‘Music Pro’] for sure, but it’s taking time.
“And in music, of course, we’re reliant on our partners to a certain degree.”
Instead of providing more specifics about the music-focused super premium tier, Norström instead highlighted an audiobook add-on subscription currently available in 13 markets: “Right now, we are in market with an audiobook add-on subscription, which is about getting more hours for [hardcore book fans versus what Spotify offers in its standard] Premium allocation.”
The lack of concrete details suggests the much-anticipated ‘Music Pro’ tier may still be further away than many in the industry initially expected.
3. Spotify takes a ‘portfolio approach’ to pricing… and recently raised prices in four European markets with no unusual churn
When LightShed Partners analyst Rich Greenfield (pictured inset) asked why Spotify doesn’t raise prices more frequently, the company provided insights into its pricing philosophy.
This may disappoint those music rightsholders hoping for solid news on regular future rate hikes.
“We take a portfolio approach. So in a sense, you could say that we raise all the time,” explained Norström. “For instance, in the last quarter, we raised in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. And I can report to you that on churn, we didn’t see anything out of the ordinary for Spotify.”
However, Spotify emphasized today that its approach prioritizes long-term subscriber retention over short-term revenue gains. “[Internally] we… obsess over the value-to-price ratio. We’ve always put subscribers on a pedestal,” said Norström.
CEO Daniel Ek reinforced this philosophy: “At scale, the subscription business is really around retention, not new customer acquisition… A lot better to keep the customer around for a longer time than to lose the customer back at a later point.”
When pressed by Greenfield about whether Spotify could raise prices faster given its high engagement, Norström reiterated: “We will raise price when it’s appropriate for the business.”
4. Generative AI is revolutionizing music discovery in ways that could reshape which songs get heard
Söderström provided extensive insights into how generative AI is revolutionizing Spotify’s understanding of user preferences, with potentially significant implications for music discovery and which tracks gain traction.
“There is a fundamental difference that happened with generative AI versus the previous AI,” explained Söderström. “We were [previously] confined to user signals… such as skips, plays and saves. Those are pretty blunt signals. A ‘skip’ could be a song that you love, but you’re tired of it… [or] you’re not tired of it, but it’s the wrong situation.”
He said this limitation is being overcome with generative AI. Spotify’s AI DJ feature exemplifies this transformation, with user engagement nearly doubling over the last year.
The DJ can now handle complex requests like: “Play me that song where Bruce Springsteen invites up that fan on stage in the music video. And DJ will understand that you are requesting Dancing in the Dark,” said Söderström.
This technology is also powering AI playlist creation, which has expanded to over 40 new markets.
Söderström said that generative AI enables users to tell Spotify “in plain English what they actually want, what’s on their mind, and even what they’re doing right now… things that would have been impossible for us to understand from listening data”.
As an example, users can now issue requests like “make me a playlist with songs to pump you up on earnings day in late July when your family is on summer holiday without you,” quipped Söderström, in a wistful moment that likely made attending analysts question a life spent studying the monetization of human loneliness.
Only joking!
5. Spotify’s multi-format strategy is driving higher engagement – but is it additive, or cannibalistic for music?
Spotify’s audiobooks business continues to expand quickly, with Söderström noting that Spotify now has “over 400,000 books” and recently launched in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein.
Meanwhile, the platform is also seeing dramatic growth in video consumption.
“In 2024, we went all in on video, and there are now more than 430,000 video podcasts on Spotify,” said Söderström. “Video continues to outperform with consumption trending higher and higher, growing 20x fasterthan audio-only consumption since 2024.
“More than 350 million users have streamed video podcasts on our platform – a 65% increase year-over-year.”
Norström added: “Users who watch a podcast consume 1.5x more than users who just listen.”
“Users who watch a podcast consume 1.5x more than users who just listen.”
Alex Norström, Spotify
Yet the question remains whether all this audiobook and podcast consumption benefits or competes with music consumption.
“The data clearly shows that the more content formats that we deliver for our users, the more engaged they become,” argued Söderström.
“This is especially true with the ‘super users’ who are not only spending more time but also more days on Spotify.”
Spotify’s executives consistently framed this multi-format approach as additive rather than cannibalistic to music.
6. Spotify hints at expanding its controversial “marketplace” model that charges artists for exposure
Spotify’s CFO Christian Luiga mentioned “marketplace monetization” as a future gross margin driver for music, which could signal an expansion of Spotify’s controversial Discovery Mode program.
When CitiGroup analyst Jason Bazinet asked about “key drivers of gross margin expansion after 2025,” Luiga cited several factors including “how we monetize the marketplace in music”.
This could be a reference to Spotify’s Discovery Mode, a program that allows artists and labels to accept lower royalty rates in exchange for increased algorithmic promotion.
The program has faced criticism from artist advocates and recently gained attention when it was mentioned in Drake’s lawsuit against Universal Music Group, with Drake’s team framing the program as a “pay-to-play” scheme.
Under Discovery Mode, artists can flag songs as priorities for recommendation algorithms, but Spotify takes a commission by paying reduced royalties on those streams.
Critics argue this creates a two-tiered system where artists and labels feel pressured to accept lower payments to compete for visibility.
If Spotify is indeed planning to expand its “marketplace” model, it could represent a significant shift in how the platform monetizes music beyond traditional subscription and advertising revenue.
However, the company provided no additional details today about what such an expansion might entail.
7. Spotify, which killed iTunes with streaming… has decided it quite likes paid-for downloads after all!
Looking ahead, Daniel Ek sees significant potential in à la carte transactions, which could create new revenue streams for creators.
“You could imagine à la carte transactions being a very big potential driver for future revenue growth,” said Ek.
“We played around with that when it comes to books, for instance, where it makes a lot of sense if you’re an author for us to be able to sell books – but you can also imagine new digital products that we could potentially introduce in the future as well.”
“We think that the big media platforms of the future will be the ones that have advertising, subscription, and a la carte as methods.”
Daniel Ek, spotify
Does this mean the humble music download – for example, as a pre-streaming, exclusively windowed access item – could be set to make a comeback?
Ek articulated a broader vision that could benefit artists across formats.
“Our [initial] view was that it simply didn’t make any sense for any media platform to be only subscriber-based or only be advertising-based. You need both of these drivers,” said Ek.
“But now we can also add a third driver, which is à la cartetransactions.
“We think that the big media platforms of the future will be the ones that have advertising, subscription, and a la carte as methods.”
This could indeed mean individual track or album sales.
Of course, it could also extend to other exclusive content and merchandise, too.
All eyes tilt towards that still-absent Spotify ‘Music Pro’ tier… and whether its arrival will come this year, next year, or a time yet to be determined.Music Business Worldwide
Before Hamas’s 7 October attack, around 650 lorries a day brought aid into Gaza.
But now, more than 100 international aid organisations and human rights groups have warned of mass starvation in Gaza.
Israel has insisted there are no restrictions on aid deliveries and that there is “no starvation”.
However, it has announced in recent days measures aimed at helping the UN and its partners collect aid from crossings and distribute it within Gaza, including daily “tactical pauses” in military operations in three areas and designated corridors.
The BBC’s diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams explains how the people of Gaza have reached a point of starvation.
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Tonight’s session at the 2025 World Championships saw two ends of the age spectrum represent the nation of Japan, with a rising star and a veteran each clocking new lifetime bests.
First, 18-year-old Tatsuya Murasa ripped a big-time PB of 1:44.54 to earn a surprise bronze in the men’s 200m freestyle.
The Japanese National High School record holder got to the wall behind winner David Popovici of Romania and runner-up Luke Hobson of the United States, putting his first-ever sub-1:45 second result on the board in the process.
Later in the women’s 100m breaststroke medal-contending race, 34-year-old Satomi Suzuki punched a result of 1:05.78 to fall just .14 outside of the medals.
That outing overtook the veteran’s previous lifetime best of 1:05.91 established at the 2024 Japanese Olympic Trials.
Suzuki was a three-time Olympic medalist at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, including becoming the bronze medalist in the 100m breaststroke.
Last year in Paris, the seasoned star placed 12th in the 100m breast but finished 4th in the 200m breast, which she will also be racing here in Singapore.
Suzuki shows no signs of slowing down, so look for something special to potentially come from the ace when the longer distance unfolds beginning Thursday, July 31st.
Additional Notes
2023 world champion Qin Haiyang of China followed up his 100m breaststroke victory by taking the 50m breast top seed tonight in 26.52.
Korea’s Hwang Sunwoo fell short of reaching his 4th consecutive World Championships podium in the 200m free, relegated to 4th in a time of 1:44.72.
After breaking her national record during the women’s 1500m freestyle heats, Singapore’s own Ching Hwee Gan ultimately placed 7th in a time of 16:03.51.
Tang Qianting earned bronze in the women’s 100m breaststroke (1:05.64) and her opening split of 29.84 was only .33 off her own Chinese national record of 29.51 in the individual 50m breast from last year’s World Championships.
Asian National/Continental Records
Li Bingjie, Women’s 400m freestyle (3:58.21) – Chinese & Asian Records
While dubbed the “asphalt jungle,” New York City boasts a significant tree population across its parks and streets. Beyond mere aesthetics, urban vegetation emerges as a crucial asset in counteracting the impacts of climate change within cities. While we’ve previously explored how scientific progress aids sustainability, nature stands out as an unparalleled remedy for human shortcomings. In line with this, NYC Parks Department’s novel tree map for the city reveals the condition and whereabouts of each tree and secures their welfare, marking a stride towards a greener future.
A map of New York City trees
The digital tree map of New York encompasses slightly over three thousand hectares, spanning parks and urban areas without forests across the city’s five boroughs. The project extends its coverage beyond parks and streets, encompassing trees within historical residences, community gardens, and playgrounds. Users of the map gain access to details about more than eight hundred thousand tree specimens, including the following characteristics:
Tree species
Precise location
Maintenance status (pruning, irrigation, etc.)
Inspection history, including upcoming tasks
Additionally, the tool provides intriguing statistical insights into each tree’s economic contribution, quantifying factors like its role in reducing air pollution and conserving energy. This feature aims to raise awareness among the population about the myriad advantages of trees in their localities. The map also offers a mechanism to report diseases or damages sustained by specific trees, facilitating prompt intervention by municipal authorities.
Commencing with the inventory of specimens during the years 2016-2018, the New York tree mapping project has evolved into what its creators tout as the largest and most up-to-date record of living trees globally. The data collection owes its success to the collaboration of municipal staff and a dedicated group of volunteers. Recognizing the citywide benefits, they opted to transform this registry into an interactive tool accessible to all citizens.
Some interesting facts about New York City’s trees
Just as in a forest, each city possesses its distinct vegetation profile. As an interesting observation, the creators of the New York tree map have condensed intriguing statistics. Notably, the city accommodates over five hundred distinct species. Here are some of the most striking facts:
Top 3 Landscaped Park Tree Species: London planetree (18,161 trees / 11.6% of total trees), Pin Oak (15,002 trees / 9.6% of total trees), Honey Locust variety (6,929 trees / 4.4% of total trees)
NYC Parks with the Most Landscaped Park Trees: Flushing Meadows Corona Park (8,698 trees), Prospect Park (3,995 trees)
Borough by Borough Landscaped Park Trees: Queens (40,617), Manhattan (39,273) Bronx (33,338), Brooklyn (32,580), Staten Island (10,817)
Number of Landscaped Tree Varieties: 570 different types of trees on streets and in parks
If you want to take a virtual tour and better understand the trees that populate the city, you have the tree map of New York here.
Main benefits of trees for a city
Modern urbanism is increasingly aware of the benefits of trees for a more sustainable city. New York’s own parks department has summarized them as follows:
Energy conservation. Trees keep temperatures more stable, provide shade for buildings, attenuate the force of the wind and reduce ambient temperatures in summer. This results in the well-being of pedestrians and lower energy costs for buildings.
Storm water interception. Tree canopies prevent torrential downpours and trap much of the water in the canopy, preventing atmospheric pollutants from reaching the ground.
Elimination of air pollution. Urban forests trap polluting particles such as nitrogen dioxide or sulfur dioxide, as well as other suspended particles, improving air quality. They also reduce energy consumption by reducing the temperature, resulting in less polluting energy production.
They trap carbon dioxide. Tree leaves and branches trap atmospheric CO2 generated by vehicles and heating systems.
If, besides the map of trees in New York, you want to know other examples of how vegetation can improve the quality of life in cities, we recommend this article on the use of moss in vertical gardens or this one on a prototype of moss wheels that trap CO 2. As we told you in this article, trees can also become living architecture in cities.
new video loaded: Russia Launches Deadly Strike on Ukrainian Prison
By Monika Cvorak•
The attack was part of a wave of strikes directed at 73 Ukrainian cities and villages, President Zelensky said. It came only hours after President Trump gave the Kremlin a new deadline to work toward ending the war.
Masafer Yatta, occupied West Bank – Awdah Hathaleen was standing by a fence in the Umm al-Kheir community centre when he was shot in the chest by an Israeli settler on Monday.
The beloved 31-year-old activist and father of three fell to the ground as people rushed over to try to help him. Then an ambulance came out of the nearby illegal settlement of Carmel and took him away.
Israeli authorities have refused to release his body for burial, simply telling his family on Monday night that he had died, depriving them of the closure of laying him to rest immediately, as Islam dictates.
Mourning
Under the scorching sun of the South Hebron Hills, the people of Umm al-Kheir were joined by anti-occupation activists from all over the world – gathered in silence to mourn Awdah, who was a key figure in non-violent resistance against settler violence in Masafer Yatta.
They came together in the same yard where Awdah was standing when he was shot to death by Israeli settler Yinon Levi, who later said, “I’m glad I did it,” according to witnesses.
Rocks had been laid in a circle around Awdah’s blood on the ground, mourners stopping there as if paying their respects.
Around the circle, the elders sat in silence, waiting for news that didn’t arrive on whether Awdah’s body would be returned by the Israeli army.
There is a feeling of shock that Awdah, out of all people, was the one murdered in cold blood, his cousin Eid Hathaleen, 41, told Al Jazeera about his “truly beloved” relative.
“There was [nobody] who contributed as much to the community in Umm al-Kheir as Awdah,” Alaa Hathaleen, 26, Awdah’s cousin and brother-in-law, said.
“I can’t believe that tomorrow I will wake up and Awdah won’t be here.”
Awdah had three children – five-year-old Watan, four-year-old Muhammad, and seven-month-old Kinan – and he loved them above everything else in the world, several of his friends and relatives told Al Jazeera.
“He was a great father,” Alaa said. “The children would go to him more than to their mother.”
Awdah got married in 2019, Jewish Italian activist Micol Hassan told Al Jazeera over the phone. “His wedding was a beautiful occasion in 2019. We organised cars that came from all over Palestine [for it].
“He loved his children so much,” she continued. “Every time he put them to sleep, they cried and asked where their daddy was.”
Alaa Hathaleen, Awdah’s cousin, stares in disbelief at the bloodstain that marks the spot where Awdah was shot. In Umm al-Kheir, Masafer Yatta, occupied West Bank, on July 29, 2025 [Mosab Shawer/Al Jazeera]
Hassan, who has been barred from returning to the occupied West Bank by Israeli authorities, also fondly recalled how much Awdah loved coffee and how she would bring him packs of Italian coffee whenever she was able to get to Umm al-Kheir.
Awdah also loved football, playing it every chance he got, even though Umm al-Kheir’s facilities are badly degraded and all the villagers have is a paved yard with dilapidated goalposts.
In fact, Awdah’s last breaths were on that same battered football pitch, possibly the one place in the village where he spent the most time.
No matter how bad settler attacks were, Alaa said, Awdah would sit down with him and discuss their projections and hopes for his favourite team, Spanish side Real Madrid.
“His love for Real Madrid ran in his veins,” Alaa added. “Maybe if they knew how much he loved them, Real Madrid would speak about Masafer Yatta.”
Peaceful activist and ‘radical humanist’
Awdah has been an activist since he was 17 years old, working to stop the Israeli attempts to expel the villagers of Masafer Yatta from their homes and lands.
He hosted countless visiting activists who came to the occupied West Bank to support Palestinian activists and villagers, helping them understand the situation on the ground and embracing their presence with his trademark hospitality.
Perhaps his most famous such collaboration was his work with Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham, who co-directed No Other Land, a documentary film that won an Oscar award this year.
Everyone who spoke to Al Jazeera remembers him as the kindest person, with a brave, peaceful heart.
He was “tayyeb, salim”, they said, using the Arabic words for “kind” and “peaceful”.
Awdah would tell anyone who came to Umm al-Kheir that he didn’t choose to be an activist; it just happened, Hassan told Al Jazeera, adding that he welcomed everyone, regardless of faith or citizenship.
“He was a radical humanist,” she said.
“He wanted the occupation to end without suffering,” said Alaa, adding that Awdah always thought about what the future would bring for his children and others.
He chose to become an English teacher because of that, Eid told Al Jazeera. He wanted the village children to grow up educated and able to tell the world their story in English, so they could reach more people.
“He taught all his students to love and welcome everyone regardless of their faith and origin,” said Eid.
A group of his students – he taught English from grades one through nine in the local school – huddled together in the community centre yard among the mourners, remembering their teacher.
“He would always try to make classes fun,” said Mosab, nine years old.
“He made us laugh,” added his classmate Mohammed, 11.
Alaa Hathaleen, Awdah’s cousin, holding Awdah’s sons, five-year-old Watan, right, and four-year-old Muhammad, left, in Umm al-Kheir, Masafer Yatta, occupied West Bank, July 29, 2025 [Mosab Shawer/Al Jazeera]
Murdered by a raging settler
Umm al-Kheir is one of more than 30 villages and hamlets in the West Bank’s Masafer Yatta, a region that, more than any, has seen the consequences of the expansion of settlements and violence linked to it.
The incident that led up to Awdah’s killing began the day before, recounted activist Mattan Berner-Kadish, who had been in Umm al-Kheir providing protective presence to the Palestinian community.
A digger was to be delivered to the illegal settlement, and the villagers had agreed to coordinate the passage of the machinery with the settlers, to prevent any damage to village infrastructure.
But the settler driving the machinery ran over a water pipe and began rolling over other infrastructure, threatening to roll into the town and cause more damage.
When villagers gathered to try to stop the machinery, the operator used the digger’s claw to hit one of them in the head, dropping him to the ground, semi-conscious.
Awdah was 10-15 metres (30-50 feet) away from the altercation, standing in the community centre yard, looking on.
In the chaos, gunshots started ringing out, and Berner-Kadish saw Yinon Levi shooting at people. Amid the screams and panic, he realised that Awdah had been shot.
An Israeli settler just shot Odeh Hadalin in the lungs, a remarkable activist who helped us film No Other Land in Masafer Yatta. Residents identified Yinon Levi, sanctioned by the EU and US, as the shooter. This is him in the video firing like crazy. pic.twitter.com/xH1Uo6L1wN
— Yuval Abraham יובל אברהם (@yuval_abraham) July 28, 2025
He tried to calm Levi down, telling him that he had directly shot someone and likely killed him. To which Levi responded: “I’m glad I did it.”
Berner-Kadish also tried to talk to the Israeli soldiers who arrived on the scene, only to hear from three of them that they wished they had been the ones to shoot Awdah.
Following the murder, the Israeli army arrested five men from the Hathaleen family. On Tuesday, the Israeli army closed the area around Umm al-Kheir, restricting any access to it.
Also on Tuesday, Levi was released to house arrest by Israeli courts, which charged him with negligent homicide.
Levi was sanctioned by Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States for violent attacks on Palestinians.
The five Hathaleen men arrested after Awdah was killed are still in Israeli custody, Alaa told Al Jazeera.
Weeping, he fretted: “What if [the Israelis] return [Awdah’s] body and they can’t pay their last tribute to them?”
Israeli soldiers arrest an activist as they raid the tent where people gathered to mourn Awdah Hathaleen [Ilia Yefimovich/picture alliance via Getty Images]
China is offering couples a subsidy to have children. The country’s government will pay $500 per year until the child is three years old. The move comes as concerns about China’s birth rate grow. Some parts of the country are paying considerably more to couples that have kids.
China, like many other countries, is worried about its birth rate—and it’s offering would-be parents a financial incentive to have children.
The country’s government on Monday rolled out a new subsidy program, which will offer parents 3,600 yuan (about $500) per year for each child up until they reach the age of 3. Subsidies will start from this year, with partial subsidies for children under 3 born prior to 2025.
China’s population was down for the third consecutive year in 2024. Rising child care costs, economic concerns and job uncertainty are being pointed to as the reason. It’s a substantial about-face for the nation, which from 1980 through 2015, adopted a one-child policy. (It began allowing families to have two children in 2016 and three children in 2021.)
China’s central government will pay the $500 subsidy, though some experts question if that amount will be enough to encourage couples to start families.
Some provinces are upping the ante. Hohhot, in Inner Mongolia, for instance, is offering up to 100,000 yuan (just under $14,000) per child to families with three or more kids. That’s a 2,000% increase over what it began offering in 2023. That subsidy will be paid out at a rate of 10,000 yuan per year until the child turns 10.
China’s population is getting older, wealthier, and better educated. Two decades ago, China’s median age was 32; now, it’s just past 40. What’s greatly concerning officials is the decline in the country’s working-age population, which fuels its manufacturing industries. That industry is already under pressure from the trade war with the U.S., which is further threatened by Donald Trump’s tariff threats.
Babies today won’t immediately fix that, but it will protect China’s interests in years to come. (Children as young as 6 years old are already being offered AI classes in the country.) Subsidies might help, but Emma Zang, a professor at Yale University, tells NBC News that a more effective strategy would be an investment in infrastructure, such as affordable child care, parental leave, and job protections for women.
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