US 'aware' of Israel’s killing of Palestinian-American teen

A US State Department spokesperson said the US is aware of the killing of the Palestinian-American teenager Omar Mohammad Rabea in the occupied West Bank by Israeli forces on Sunday.

The US is seeking more information about the nature of the killing, according to the spokesperson.

"We are certainly aware of that dynamic," he said. "There is an investigation that is going on. We are aware of the reports from the IDF that this was a counterterrorism act, we need to learn more about the nature of what happened on the ground."

Rabea, 14, was killed along with two other teenagers, who all held United States citizenship, when Israeli troops opened fire on a group of children near the town of Turmus Aya, northeast of the city of Ramallah, located in the occupied West Bank.

They were wounded in the abdomen and the thigh and were transferred by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) to a hospital for treatment.

The Israeli army described Rabea as a “terrorist” who was "throwing stones". He was pronounced dead after the Israeli officials arrested him and withheld his body, according to Wafa Palestinian news agency.

The incident comes amid an Israeli military operation that was launched in the occupied West Bank in January, which killed at least 99 people, some 17 of them were children, according to the United Nations.