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The death of Amer Rabee, a Palestinian American in the West Bank, has spurred anger over soldiers’ use of force and an apparent lack of accountability.
By Isabel Kershner and Fatima AbdulKarim
The reporters visited the village of Turmus Aya in the occupied West Bank to report this article and went to the spot where the shootings occurred.
May 27, 2025Updated 10:54 a.m. ET
The clothes were strewn on a ridge dotted with olive and almond trees, perched above a highway in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. On rust-colored earth sprinkled with wildflowers were a torn black T-shirt, black Converse socks and a pair of Nike Air white sneakers.
Nearby lay a pair of bloodied, gray Nike sweatpants and a black hoodie perforated with holes.
Here, on April 6, near Turmus Aya, a village in the West Bank where most of the residents have U.S. citizenship, Israeli soldiers gunned down Amer Rabee a 14-year-old Palestinian American boy who was born in New Jersey. The military handed over his naked, bullet-ridden body a few hours later in a blue body bag, according to his family.
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The Israeli military has accused Amer and two of his friends of hurling rocks toward the highway and endangering civilians. It described the boys as “terrorists,” and said its soldiers had “eliminated” one and shot the two others.
Amer’s family and one of the surviving boys deny the accusation, saying that they were picking almonds. Amer was shot multiple times in his upper body, according to photographs his family shared with The New York Times.
Amer’s killing has added to accusations that the Israeli military uses excessive force and operates with impunity. It came amid a sharp spike in violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, where the Israeli military has been carrying out raids and tightening control in the most sweeping crackdown on militancy there in a generation. Rampages by extremist settlers against Palestinians have also increased recently.
