The U.S. State Department announced Monday that about 24 Americans have died “as a result of continued violence” related to the Israel-Hamas war.
“We have confirmed the deaths of 23 American citizens,” State Department representative Vedant Patel said at a regular press conference.
Of the Americans killed since October 7, 21 served in the Israel Defense Forces and one in the Israel National Police, Patel noted.
The recent death of 17-year-old Palestinian American Tawfik Ajak is the latest addition to the growing death toll, he added.
“We are devastated by the murder of 17-year-old U.S. citizen Tawfiq Abdel Jabbar in the West Bank,” Patel said, adding that the U.S. is working with Israel to obtain information about his death. He pointed out that
“We have called for an urgent investigation, where appropriate, to determine the circumstances of his death and responsibility.”
The boy, who was born and raised in Gretna, Louisiana, moved to the Palestinian territories last year with his parents and four siblings, but was shot dead by Israeli security forces in the occupied West Bank on Friday, Palestinian health officials said. .
Joe Abdel Kaki, a relative of Ajak, said the American-born young man was shot in the head and chest while having a barbecue with friends in a field in his village.
Israeli police later said they had received reports of “discharge of firearms ostensibly involving off-duty law enforcement officers, soldiers, and civilians,” but the exact circumstances of the shooting remain unclear.
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Police did not say who fired the fatal shot, but said the shooting targeted “alleged rock-throwing people” along a main thoroughfare in the West Bank.
The Hamas-run Palestinian Health Ministry says 369 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since October 7, when a surprise cross-border attack by the Palestinian terrorist group sparked a devastating war.
Most of the dead Palestinians were killed in a gunfight in the West Bank, which the Israeli military said began during an operation to arrest a group of Palestinian militants.
The United States has provided military and diplomatic support to Israel in its war against Hamas, but has repeatedly called on the Jewish state to reduce the intensity of its attacks.
Israeli attacks have killed nearly 25,000 Palestinians so far, according to Gaza health officials.
with post wire
