By Kanishka Singh and Menna AlaaElDin
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. State Department said on Friday it was aware of the reported death of a U.S. citizen in the Israeli-occupied West Bank after reports emerged of Israeli settlers fatally beating a Palestinian American.
Palestinian news agency WAFA, citing the local health ministry, said Saif al-Din Kamel Abdul Karim Musallat, aged in his 20s, died after he was beaten by Israeli settlers on Friday evening in an attack that also injured many people in a town north of Ramallah.
Relatives of Musallat, who was from Tampa, Florida, were also quoted by the Washington Post as saying he was beaten to death by Israeli settlers.
“We are aware of reports of the death of a U.S. citizen in the West Bank,” a State Department spokesperson said, adding the department had no further comment “out of respect for the privacy of the family and loved ones” of the reported victim.
The Israeli military said Israel was probing the incident in the town of Sinjil. It said rocks were hurled at Israelis near Sinjil and that “a violent confrontation developed in the area”.
Israel has expanded and consolidated settlements in the West Bank as part of the steady integration of these territories into the state of Israel in breach of international law, the U.N. human rights office said in March.
Settler violence in the West Bank, including incursions into occupied territory and raids, has intensified since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza in late 2023.
Israel’s military offensive has killed over 57,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to Gaza’s health ministry, and led to accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice and of war crimes at the International Criminal Court. Israel denies the accusations and says it is fighting in self-defense after the October 2023 Hamas attack that killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies.
Israeli killings of U.S. citizens in the West Bank in recent years include those of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, Palestinian American teenager Omar Mohammad Rabea and Turkish American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi.
The United Nations’ highest court said last year Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements there were illegal and should be withdrawn as soon as possible.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington and Menna AlaaElDin in Cairo; Editing by William Mallard)
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