Palestinian officials identified the 14-year-old US citizen as Omar Mohammed Rabea.

Israeli forces have opened fire on a group of children in the occupied West Bank, killing a 14-year-old Palestinian-American boy and wounding at least two others, according to the Wafa news agency.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health identified the victim on Sunday as Omar Mohammed Rabea, and said he was shot near the town of Turmus Aya, northeast of the city of Ramallah.

Earlier reports from the town’s mayor suggested it was an Israeli settler who had fired the bullets.

The attack comes amid a sharp rise in Israeli violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including a large-scale offensive in the north of the territory that has killed at least 99 people.

Some 17 of the victims were children, according to United Nations figures.

According to Wafa, Israeli officials arrested Rabea, later pronouncing him dead, and are continuing to withhold his body.

Two other Palestinian boys, aged 14 and 15, were shot in the attack that killed Rabea, the agency reported. The boys, who hold United States citizenship, were wounded in the abdomen and the thigh and were transferred by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) to a hospital for treatment.

Laila Ghanem, the governor of Ramallah and el-Bireh, visited them at the hospital and condemned the attack.

She said the deadly assault comes “within the context of ongoing organised terrorism” by the state of Israel and accused the Israeli military of deliberately targeting Palestinian children to destroy the Palestinian people.

The victim’s family has not yet made a public statement but they have expressed their grief over their loss.

Israeli forces have opened an investigation into the killing, but there has been no immediate comment from authorities. The Israeli military and settlers operate for the most part without fear of judicial repercussions in Palestinian areas.

There have been several cases of US citizens being killed by Israelis in the occupied West Bank.

In 2024, Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old Turkish-American activist, was shot in the head by an Israeli soldier while protesting against illegal Israeli settlements, according to witnesses.

Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist for Al Jazeera, was also killed by the Israeli military in 2022 while reporting in the occupied West Bank, despite being clearly identified as a member of the press.