Milad Monther Al-Ra’ey

Their life

Milad Monther Al-Ra’ey was a 16-year-old Palestinian boy from the Al-Arroub Refugee Camp, located north of Hebron in the southern part of the occupied West Bank. He was killed on September 9, 2023, by Israeli forces who shot him with live ammunition in the back and chest during a protest near the entrance of his refugee camp. Milad was one of many young Palestinians resisting the ongoing Israeli military presence and frequent incursions in and around Palestinian refugee camps. His death drew widespread anger and mourning from his community.

Milad Monther Al-Ra’ey was born and raised in the Al-Arroub Refugee Camp, a densely populated area north of Hebron, where daily life for Palestinians is shaped by military checkpoints, surveillance, and frequent confrontations with Israeli soldiers. Like many youths growing up under occupation, Milad was exposed to the persistent tensions and violence that define life in refugee camps throughout the West Bank. On September 9, 2023, during a protest against the ongoing Israeli military presence at the camp’s entrance, Israeli soldiers opened fire on a group of Palestinian youth. Milad was struck with live bullets in the back and chest, fired from close range by soldiers stationed in a fortified military tower.

Despite the efforts of Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) paramedics, who attempted to resuscitate him en route to Al-Yamamah Hospital in Bethlehem, and the continued attempts by doctors upon arrival, Milad succumbed to his critical injuries. The Israeli military justified the killing by claiming that Palestinians were throwing Molotov cocktails, but eyewitnesses and video documentation indicated that Milad posed no immediate threat when he was shot. Following his death, the army sealed off the refugee camp, intensifying restrictions on movement and sparking further clashes.

Milad’s killing sparked a wave of grief and protest. Family members and local youth gathered at the hospital, weeping over his body and chanting slogans in support of Palestinian resistance. His death was not an isolated incident, but part of a broader pattern of violence against Palestinian minors in the West Bank. Milad is remembered by his community as a teenager full of life, taken too soon by a system of occupation that continues to cost Palestinian children their futures. His funeral procession reflected the collective pain of a people exhausted by decades of dispossession and military violence.

How they died

Shot with live ammunition in the back and chest by Israeli soldiers at close range

He was Shot with live ammunition in the back and chest by Israeli soldiers at close range

Why we remember them

This record exists so that Milad Monther Al-Ra’ey, and all who are named in this archive, are never reduced to a number.

References & sources