More than 30 U.S. senators have signed a letter urging the Trump administration to launch an independent probe into the February killing of a 19‑year‑old American in the occupied West Bank, the ninth U.S. citizen killed by Israeli soldiers or settlers since 2022.
The petition, headed by Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and addressed to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, calls for a U.S.-led inquiry, a comprehensive report on the status of all nine cases, and a briefing to Congress on the latest killing by 5 April. None of the incidents have resulted in criminal convictions.
“This has now become a consistent pattern in which Americans are being killed in the West Bank by settlers or the Israel Defense Forces without justice or accountability, despite promises from U.S. officials,” the lawmakers wrote in the Wednesday letter, which was shared exclusively with CuriosityNews.
Nasrallah Abu Siyam, a Philadelphia native, was shot on 18 February in the West Bank village of Mukhmas during an assault on Palestinian farmers by a group of masked settlers. Witnesses said Israeli soldiers on the scene neither intervened nor provided medical aid, and no arrests were made.
The IDF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Thursday’s letter bears the signatures of 31 Democratic and independent senators, including senior members such as Senate Appropriations Vice‑Chair Patty Murray, Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member Jack Reed, and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Absent are Pennsylvania’s two senators, Democrat John Fetterman and Republican Dave McCormick, even though Abu Siyam hailed from Philadelphia. Fetterman, a frequent vocal supporter of Israel in the Senate, has not publicly addressed the killing.
It is the second such missive Van Hollen has sent the Trump administration in less than eight months. In July 2025, he led nearly 30 colleagues in demanding answers over the death of Sayfollah Musallet, a 20‑year‑old Floridian beaten to death by settlers. The State Department then stated it “calls for accountability in all cases where U.S. citizens are harmed abroad.” Since that request, two more Americans have been killed.
The nine deceased span a range of ages and circumstances. Shireen Abu Akleh, the prominent Palestinian‑American journalist, was shot in the head by an Israeli soldier in 2022 while clearly identified as press. Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, from Seattle, was also shot in the head during a West Bank protest in 2024. Omar Assad, an elderly Palestinian‑American, suffered a stress‑induced heart attack after being gagged, blindfolded, bound and left on the ground by IDF soldiers. Khamis al‑Ayyada, 40, died of smoke inhalation in August after a fire was set by Israeli settlers in his village.
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