A 19-year-old Palestinian-American died after being shot by an Israeli settler in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said late on Wednesday. The victim was identified as Nasrallah Mohammed Jamal Abu Siam.
An official at the U.S. embassy condemned the violence, saying: "The U.S. Department of State has no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizen overseas."
The shooting occurred on Wednesday in the village of Mukhmas, located near the West Bank city of Ramallah. A relative of Abu Siam, who declined to be named out of concern over potential reprisals from Israeli security forces, described the events leading up to the shooting. According to that relative, settlers entered the village to steal sheep. When villagers, including Abu Siam, attempted to stop the alleged thefts, the relative said, the settlers began firing and several villagers were struck.
Local authorities reported that five people were injured in the attacks. The Palestinian Authority’s official news agency, WAFA, said three of the injured suffered bullet wounds, including Abu Siam. WAFA did not provide further details about the other injuries.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the incident.
Humanitarian and monitoring groups, as well as U.N. figures cited by officials, indicate a marked rise in violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinian communities in the West Bank since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023. That surge in attacks has coincided with growing displacement; nearly 700 people were reported displaced by settler attacks in 2026, according to U.N. data included in the official assessments.
The human toll inside the West Bank this year has been recorded by U.N. data as nine Palestinians killed in 2026, following 240 Palestinian deaths in 2025. The same set of U.N. figures recorded two Israelis killed in the West Bank during 2025.
Accountability for settler violence is reported to be uncommon. Israeli monitoring group Yesh Din said that, at the end of 2025, only 2% of the hundreds of cases of settler violence it had documented since October 7, 2023, had led to indictments.
The broader context cited by officials and observers includes a string of incidents over the past two years in which several U.S. citizens have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces or settlers. Among those named is activist Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi.
The death of Abu Siam adds to a pattern of clashes and heightened tensions in the West Bank that officials say have increased since October 2023. Local residents, health authorities and international monitors continue to track the situation as further incidents and responses unfold.