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Israeli settlers attacked the West Bank Palestinian village of Susiya as night fell on Monday. 

A group of 10-20 masked assailants physically assaulted people and destroyed property with stones, as residents and Jewish activists arrived at the scene to defend the area, according to ABC News.

Among those caught in the struggle was Hamdan Ballal, a co-director of the Oscar-winning film “No Other Land” that documents Israel’s ongoing destruction of Palestinian homes in the Masafer Yatta area — which is where Susiya is located. 

Ballal was badly beaten and suffered a bloody head wound before the Israeli military arrived. Soldiers blindfolded and detained him and at least one other Palestinian man to an unknown location. One Israeli citizen was also evacuated for medical treatment, ABC reported. 

The military said they made the arrests because the detainees threw rocks at them, but multiple witnesses dispute this claim. Instead, they report that when the soldiers arrived, they pointed guns at the Palestinians while allowing the settlers to continue throwing rocks, according to The Associated Press. 

Basel Adra, the other Palestinian co-director of the film, was one of those witnesses. 

“We came back from the Oscars and every day since there is an attack on us,” Adra told AP News. “This might be their revenge on us for making the movie. It feels like a punishment.”

Ballal and Adra made the film alongside Israelis Rachel Szor and Yuval Abraham. It won the Best Documentary Feature category at the Oscars, as well as other international awards, but has faced backlash in Israel and the United States for its honest portrayal of what is happening in Masafer Yatta.

Israel violently seized the West Bank in 1967 and now occupies it with harsh military rule. Over 100 Israeli settlements and at least 500,000 settlers have encroached into the territory, where 3 million Palestinians live. In vulnerable rural areas like Masafer Yatta, the Israeli military and settlers often try to expel residents — and wreck their homes and olive orchards if they stay, ABC explained.

Israel’s military operations in the West Bank have surged during its assault on Gaza, claiming hundreds of Palestinians lives. Settler-driven attacks have also become more frequent, per ABC.

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