More than 30 US senators signed a letter demanding that the Trump administration open an independent investigation into the February killing of a 19-year-old American in the occupied West Bank, the ninth US citizen killed by Israeli soldiers or settlers since 2022.
The letter, headed by Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and addressed to the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio; US Attorney General Pam Bondi; and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee calls for a US-led investigation and full accounting of the status of the nine cases, and for the administration to report to Congress on the murder by April 5. Neither case has resulted in a criminal conviction.
“This has now become a consistent pattern in which settlers or the (Israel Defense Forces (IDF)) are killing Americans in the West Bank without justice or accountability, despite promises from US officials,” the lawmakers wrote in Wednesday’s letter, which was shared exclusively with The Guardian.
Philadelphia-born Nasrallah Abu Siyam was shot on February 18 in the West Bank village of Mukhmas during an attack on Palestinian farmers by a group of masked settlers. Witnesses said that the Israeli soldiers present did not intervene, provide medical assistance or make arrests.
The IDF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Thursday’s letter was signed by 31 Democratic and independent senators, including top figures such as Senate Appropriations Vice President Patty Murray; Democratic Whip Dick Durbin; Senate Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Jack Reed; and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Of note is the absence of Pennsylvania’s two senators, Democrat John Fetterman and Republican Dave McCormick, even though Abu Siyam is a Philadelphia native. Fetterman has been one of Israel’s most vocal supporters in the Senate in recent years and has not commented publicly on the assassination.
It is the second such letter Van Hollen has sent to the Trump administration in less than eight months. In July 2025, he led nearly 30 colleagues in demanding answers into the murder of Sayfollah Musallet, a 20-year-old from Florida who was beaten to death by settlers. In that case, the State Department said it “calls for accountability in all cases in which U.S. citizens are harmed abroad.” Since then, two more Americans have been killed.
The nine dead span a range of ages and circumstances. Shireen Abu Akleh, the renowned Palestinian American journalist, was shot in the head by an Israeli soldier in 2022 while clearly identified as a journalist. Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, of Seattle, was also shot in the head during a protest in the West Bank in 2024. Omar Assad, an elderly Palestinian-American, died of a stress-induced heart attack after IDF soldiers gagged him, blindfolded him, tied him up, and left him on the ground. Khamis al-Ayyada, 40, died from smoke inhalation in August after Israeli settlers set a fire in his village. Three of the nine were minors: a 14-year-old from New Jersey and two 17-year-olds killed in separate incidents.
“For these nine murders, no one has yet been held accountable by the Netanyahu government,” the lawmakers wrote, “nor has the United States government fulfilled its duty to protect Americans and ensure justice and accountability for their deaths.”
Settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank has increased sharply over the past two years. Dozens of villages have been emptied of their residents, with the support or even participation of Israeli government forces.
One of Trump’s first acts upon returning to the White House last January was to revoke a Joe Biden-era executive order that had imposed sanctions on settlers involved in the violence. Thirty-three individuals and organizations lost their designations overnight, which senators said caused the number of incidents of settler violence to subsequently skyrocket.
“It is unclear to us how many more Americans must die in the West Bank for this administration, and other administrations, to take serious and credible steps to ensure accountability,” the lawmakers wrote.
The U.S. Departments of State and Justice did not respond to a request for comment.
