Six Israeli bullets killed 14-year-old Palestinian-American Amir Rabee

“An Israeli who shoots a resident of Turmus Ayya has an 80% chance of wounding or killing a dual citizen,” said Yaser Alkam, municipal spokesman for this town in the occupied West Bank of just over 2,000 inhabitants, referring to the high number of residents who hold foreign passports, mainly from the United States. And that was what happened on Sunday afternoon, when Israeli soldiers shot and killed Amir Rabee, a 14-year-old Palestinian-American, and wounded two other 15-year-olds. The attack took place just hours before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to land in Washington to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump.

“I want to send a message to President Trump, so that he at least puts an end to this situation and stops sending weapons that are killing his citizens,” says the boy’s father, Mohamed Rabee, 49. He answers questions from EL PAÍS at midday on Monday during the funeral, at the entrance to the Turmus Ayya mosque and a few meters from his son’s body, draped in the Palestinian flag. As on similar previous occasions, the Israeli authorities claim he was killed because he was a stone-throwing “terrorist.”

“Six gunshot wounds: two to the heart, two to the back, and two to the head,” the father emphasizes, showing both his passport and his son’s, issued on September 23. Amir was born in New Jersey on May 5, 2010, but his father points to what he considers abandonment by the U.S. authorities. “Even if he had done something, they shouldn’t have killed him like that,” Mohamed laments before entering the mosque and sitting down to listen to the sermon beside the body. In the front row, about 30 children of various ages sit on the carpet surrounding the stretcher where Amir lies. “They murdered him in cold blood,” Yaser Alkam states.

“Today is a day of sadness and mourning, but at the same time, a day of celebration because we have a new martyr,” says Mayor Lafi Shalaby, referring to another death for the Palestinian cause. “This town is proud that one of its children is a martyr,” he emphasizes outside the mosque among dozens of people in the funeral procession. Many of Turmus Ayya’s families are migrants who have come and gone constantly for generations, he explains. His is one of them. The mayor states that five of his siblings and other relatives live in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, where his father also died in 2002.

“Trump is allowing what’s happening. Look, as soon as he took office, he lifted the sanctions his country had imposed on settlers. I don’t think we Palestinians are even second-class citizens to him,” comments the municipal spokesperson, while insisting that they don’t have a coordination protocol with U.S. authorities in the area for emergencies like Sunday’s attack. Rafeh Jbara, 15, also born in New Jersey, belongs to another of those families living between the U.S. and Palestine. “With Trump, I think things will get worse,” he predicts, surrounded by young people, curious in the presence of reporters. “I’ve lived 23 years of my life in the U.S., almost always in California, and I don’t like what that country is doing at all,” says Rachid Aziz, 53, another resident with dual nationality.

General strike

Outside the mosque, young people run around, alternating between Arabic and English while waving Palestinian flags next to posters on the walls bearing a photo of the slain teenager, announcing that the town has a new “martyr,” as they call those who have fallen for the Palestinian cause. “Fatah is in mourning,” reads the condolences offered by the political movement led by the Palestinian Authority (PA). In Turmus Ayya, the comings and goings of people can only be seen around Amir Rabee’s funeral, as the West Bank was holding a general strike Monday and everything remained closed in protest against the conflict in Gaza. Amid the prevailing stillness, large villas dot the town, symbolizing and recalling the progress of those who leave for overseas — and not just for the U.S.

The Israeli army, on this occasion, has made no attempt to deny its soldiers were responsible for the teenager’s death. Military spokespersons issued a statement Sunday night: “During a counterterrorism activity in the area of Turmus Ayya, IDF soldiers identified three terrorists who hurled rocks toward the highway, thus endangering civilians driving.” It added: “The soldiers opened fire toward the terrorists who were endangering civilians, eliminating one terrorist and hitting two additional terrorists.” They attached blurry, black-and-white video footage as evidence in which three moving shadows can be seen, in which it is impossible to identify anyone.

Amir’s father is conclusive when asked about the video. “No one can prove that my son is one of them,” he states. “However, they have clear videos of settlers and soldiers burning houses in Turmus Ayya and killing people,” he adds, referring to the prevailing impunity amid the frequent attacks carried out by the occupation troops and Jewish settlers in the area against Palestinians. A few days ago, another minor with dual nationality, this time Palestinian-Brazilian, died. In this case, he collapsed in the Israeli prison where he had been detained since September, and an autopsy report cites starvation as the first possible cause of death. Various Israeli and Palestinian humanitarian organizations report this reality daily in prisons and in the occupied territories.

The residents of Turmus Ayya do not link the attacks in their town exclusively to the current Gaza war, which erupted in October 2023 and has also triggered violence in the West Bank. They insist it is a structural issue and that settlers often arrive, not only armed, but also dressed in military uniform, denounces Yaser Alkam, the municipal spokesman. “We will stay and, if necessary, sacrifice our lives, but we will not leave our homes or our lands,” he emphasizes. Meanwhile, several hundred people advance from the mosque toward the cemetery amid cries of rage. Some of them carry on their shoulders the body of young Amir, the latest victim of the Israeli occupation in Turmus Ayya.

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