America has urged Israel to launch an investigation into the loss of life of Tawfiq Ajaq, a 17-year-old Palestinian-American who Palestinian authorities say was killed by Israeli troops within the occupied West Financial institution.
At a press briefing in Washington, DC on Monday, US State Division spokesperson Vedant Patel advised reporters that the US is “devastated concerning the killing” and is constant “to interact intently with the Authorities of Israel to establish as a lot data as potential”.
“We’ve referred to as for an pressing investigation to find out the circumstance of his loss of life,” Patel stated. He added that the top of the US Workplace of Palestinian Affairs had visited Ajaq’s household to supply condolences and would proceed helping them along with the US Embassy in Jerusalem.
Ajaq was born in Gretna, Louisiana, close to New Orleans, and was delivered to the West Financial institution by his mother and father final yr.
Ajaq’s relative, Joe Abdel Qaki, stated Tawfiq and a pal had been having a barbecue in a village discipline when he was shot.
Talking at his son’s funeral on Saturday, Tawfiq’s father, Hafez Ajaq, stated Israeli forces within the occupied West Financial institution had been “killer machines”.
Israeli police have stated they acquired a report on Friday concerning a “firearm discharge, ostensibly involving an off-duty legislation enforcement officer, a soldier and a civilian”.
Police didn’t establish who fired the shot, although they stated the capturing focused folks “purportedly engaged in rock-throwing actions alongside Freeway 60″, the primary north-south thoroughfare within the occupied West Financial institution.
“This isn’t the primary time Protection for Kids Palestine hasn’t been in a position to verify whether or not a settler or soldier killed a toddler. One aids and abets the opposite,” Miranda Cleland, an advocacy officer with Protection for Kids Palestine, stated in a submit on X.
Tawfiq is an American youngster who was chased & shot at by an Israeli settler, THEN Israeli forces pulled up and continued capturing. This isn’t the primary time @DCIPalestine hasn’t been in a position to verify whether or not a settler or soldier killed a toddler. One aids and abets the opposite.
— Miranda Cleland (@MirandaCleland) January 20, 2024
A minimum of 369 folks have been killed by Israeli troops and settlers within the occupied West Financial institution since October, together with 95 youngsters.
The United Nations Kids’s Fund (UNICEF) additionally famous that 2023 was the deadliest yr for kids within the occupied West Financial institution and East Jerusalem, with 124 Palestinian and 6 Israeli youngsters killed there for the reason that begin of the yr.
Mustafa Barghouti, the overall secretary of the Palestinian Nationwide Initiative social gathering, advised Al Jazeera that the rising raids and assaults within the occupied West Financial institution are an try by Israel to reoccupy the territory “utterly”.
“This can be a clear message from [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu,” Barghouti stated. “He’s saying there’s no place anymore for any impartial Palestinian authority right here. He’s reoccupying the West Financial institution as he’s attempting to reoccupy Gaza.”