Palestinian-American teen from North Jersey shot and killed in the West Bank

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A 14-year-old boy, an American citizen from northern New Jersey, was shot and killed by Israeli military forces in the West Bank on Sunday.

Amer Mohammad Saada Rabee, formerly of Saddle Brook, was shot along with two other teenagers in Turmus Ayya, a town in the occupied West Bank where many Palestinian Americans live or own homes, according to the wire service Reuters.

The Israeli Defense Forces said in a statement that its troops opened fire on three people, killing one, after identifying “three terrorists who were throwing rocks at a highway with civilian vehicles” and “who posed a danger to civilians.

“IDF forces will continue to operate defensively and offensively throughout Judea and Samaria for the security of the region’s residents,” read the statement posted on X.

Mourners gathered Sunday for funeral prayers at the Palestinian American Community Center in Clifton, where Rabee’s uncle, Saleh Rabee of Wayne, is a board member.

“Amer was shot by Israeli military officers along with two other 15-year-olds from the village,” the center said in a statement. “The ambulance was not allowed to pass the checkpoint for 30 minutes, a denial in medical treatment that ultimately resulted in Amer’s death. Amer’s death was entirely preventable and horrifically unjust. He was a child, a 14-year-old boy, with an entire life ahead of him.”

Rabee’s death comes amid a rise in tensions and violence in the occupied West Bank since the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2003. Settler attacks, military raids and attacks on property have become a near daily occurrence during Israel’s war in Gaza.

More than 900 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank by Israeli settlers or soldiers since the Oct. 7 attack, according to the United Nations.

On Sunday evening, Rabee’s two brothers, his uncle and his wife, who live in Wayne, were on their way to the airport to travel to the Palestinian territory and were not immediately available for comment.

The Israeli Army detained Rabee before he was pronounced dead, Reuters reported. Relatives told Rania Mustafa, executive director of the Palestinian American Community Center, who gathered information from his family for the statement, that Rabee’s body was returned to his parents with multiple bullet holes. Rabee, Mustafa said, moved from Saddle Brook to the West Bank when he was in elementary school.

The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned the incident as an “extrajudicial killing” against children, saying it was the result of Israel’s “continued impunity.”

In its statement, the Palestinian American Community Center called on the U.S. to investigate Amer’s killing, saying the nation “has a duty to protect and bring justice to its citizens.”

“We are united in grief,” the center wrote, “but also in our collective hope for a future where such atrocities no longer occur and where justice prevails for all.”

The incident resonated in New Jersey’s large Palestinian community. Turmus Ayya is a popular destination and a hometown for many Palestinian Americans, who spend summers there, live there part time or retire there. Its mayor has stated that Palestinian Americans with dual citizenship make up an estimated 85% of the town’s population.

Its residents have pleaded with United States officials to protect them after attacks by Israeli settlers, who have torched homes and cars and fire at residents, and to demand accountability for crimes against them.

In February 2024, the administration of President Joe Biden and European countries imposed financial sanctions on Israeli settlers who have attacked Palestinians in the West Bank. President Donald Trump repealed those sanctions.

This story contains material from Reuters.