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The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that Amir Ahmed Jawad Jaber succumbed to critical wounds sustained the previous evening when Israeli forces entered the Um al-Sharayet area of Al-Bireh near Ramallah. According to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA, the 15-year-old was hit by two bullets, one to the head and one to the chest, during the incursion on June 28, 2026. The Palestine Red Crescent Society stated that its crews treated the teenager for a very critical injury before transferring him to a hospital, where he later died. B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, released a report the same day that documented 54 cases of Israeli forces killing Palestinian children and teenagers in the West Bank in 2025.
WAFA detailed that Jaber was directly shot during the military operation, which involved multiple vehicles deploying through local neighborhoods and led to confrontations with residents. The health ministry’s statement, carried by WAFA, confirmed the cause of death as the gunshot wounds inflicted amid the raid. Medical sources told WAFA that initial resuscitation efforts at the scene proved insufficient to save the boy’s life. Coverage by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz identified the victim as an Arab Israeli resident of East Jerusalem.
The Israeli military told reporters that the fatal shooting is under investigation, according to dispatches in both Haaretz and The Times of Israel. No additional information on the circumstances or any alleged militant activity in the area was provided in the initial military response. The Times of Israel noted that the Palestinian health ministry issued its announcement shortly after the incident, with the army offering no immediate public comment on the operation itself. Similar raids in the Ramallah region have been a regular feature of Israeli security operations in the central West Bank.
Jaber becomes the latest child casualty in a year that has already seen elevated levels of violence across the territory. B’Tselem’s assessment found that such deaths often occur during operations that draw little subsequent accountability. The rights group has tracked these incidents as part of its monitoring of the occupied territories since the start of the current escalation. Palestinian authorities have repeatedly called for international intervention to curb the cycle of raids and fatalities.
The Um al-Sharayet neighborhood has witnessed multiple Israeli incursions in recent months, several of which resulted in injuries treated by Red Crescent teams, WAFA archives show. In one prior episode covered by the agency, forces fired live rounds and tear gas, wounding several locals including a young man struck in the head by a rubber-coated bullet. Data compiled by monitoring organizations places the West Bank death toll from such operations in the hundreds since late 2023. The latest incident coincides with continued tensions that have drawn scrutiny from both Israeli and Palestinian human rights observers.
