Israeli soldiers killed a 14-year-old Palestinian American from New Jersey in the West Bank on Sunday afternoon, authorities said.
Omar Mohammad Rabea, originally from Saddle Brook, N.J., was shot dead in Turmus Ayya, the Bergen Record reported. Two other teens with Rabea were shot and wounded.
One of the wounded boys, Abdul Rahman Shehadeh, told AFP news agency he was collecting fruit near the town.
However, the Israeli military said all three teens were throwing rocks toward a highway, endangering passing motorists. The Israel Defense Forces described the boys as “terrorists.”
The Israeli military briefly detained Rabea before his death, Reuters news agency reported. His family told the Record the ambulance carrying Rabea was stopped at a military checkpoint for 30 minutes.
Rabea’s “death was entirely preventable and horrifically unjust. He was a child, a 14-year-old boy, with an entire life ahead of him,” the Palestinian American Community Center in Clifton told the outlet.
More than 900 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the Hamas-Israel war began on Oct. 7, 2023. The town of Turmus Ayya is popular with Palestinian Americans, and many of the town’s residents have dual citizenship. Rabea moved from Saddle Brook to Turmus Ayya in elementary school, according to the Record.
After a brief ceasefire, Israel resumed attacks on Gaza on March 18, reigniting a war that has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
