'Urgent' Israeli probe into killing of Palestinian-American child urged by US

Jerusalem: The United States has requested Israel to conduct an investigation into the killing of Tawfiq Ajaq, a 17-year-old Palestinian-American who Palestinian officials claim was killed by Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank.

During a news briefing in Washington, DC on Monday, US State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel declared that the US is "devastated about the killing" and is continuing “to engage closely with the Government of Israel to ascertain as much information as possible”.

“We have called for an urgent investigation to determine the circumstance of his death,” Patel said, Al Jazeera reported

He also stated that the head of the US Office of Palestinian Affairs had visited Ajaq's family to express condolences and will continue to support them, in collaboration with the US Embassy in Jerusalem.

Ajaq was born in Gretna, Louisiana, near New Orleans, and moved to the West Bank with his parents last year.

Tawfiq and a friend were having a barbecue in a village field when they were shot, according to Ajaq's relative Joe Abdel Qaki.

Speaking during his son's funeral on Saturday, Tawfiq's father, Hafez Ajaq, described Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank as "killer machines".

Israeli police say they received a tip on Friday about a "firearm discharge, ostensibly involving an off-duty law enforcement officer, a soldier, and a civilian".

Police did not identify the shooter, but stated that it targeted individuals “purportedly engaged in rock-throwing activities along Highway 60″, the main north-south route in the occupied West Bank.

In a post on X Miranda Cleland, an advocacy officer with Defense for Children Palestine said, “This is not the first time Defense for Children Palestine hasn’t been able to confirm whether a settler or soldier killed a child. One aids and abets the other."

Since October, Israeli troops and settlers in the occupied West Bank have killed at least 369 Palestinians, 95 of whom were minors.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) also stated that 2023 was the worst year for children in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, with 124 Palestinian and six Israeli children killed since the beginning of the year.

Mustafa Barghouti, the general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative party, told Al Jazeera that the rising raids and attacks in the occupied West Bank are an attempt by Israel to reoccupy the land "completely".

“This is a clear message from [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu,” Barghouti said. “He’s saying there’s no place anymore for any independent Palestinian authority here. He’s reoccupying the West Bank as he is trying to reoccupy Gaza.”