Israeli soldiers guard in the northern West Bank on May 29, 2023. (Flash90)

(JTA) — A Palestinian-American boy was killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank, local officials say.

It is unclear exactly who shot Omar Mohammad Rabea, formerly from northern New Jersey, on Sunday in the village of Turmus Ayya, which has a large population of American citizens. The village’s mayor said he was shot by an Israeli settler, while the Palestinian Foreign Ministry blamed the Israeli military for the shooting, according to Reuters.

On Sunday, the Israeli military posted on social media that its forces fired on three people in Turmus Ayya, killing one and injuring the other two. The military said they had been throwing rocks at a highway where civilians were driving. The post did not identify those killed.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

“The terrorists constituted a danger to civilians,” the Israel Defense Forces posted. “IDF forces will continue to defend and attack across Judea and Samaria for the security of local residents.”

The State Department does not appear to have commented on Rabea’s death and did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.

Violence has escalated across the West Bank since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war 18 months ago. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed, and thousands arrested, in Israeli counterterror raids, and dozens of Israelis have been killed in Palestinian terror attacks.

Israeli forces killed a Turkish-American woman, Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, who was protesting in the West Bank in September. The IDF expressed its “deepest regret” about that incident, which it said was unintentional. The Biden administration had called on Israel to investigate the incident.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations called on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate Rabea’s killing, saying, “If the Trump administration really wants to put ‘America first,’ its first duty is to protect the lives of American citizens.” The incident came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepared to meet with several Trump administration officials, including the president, in Washington, D.C.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount