Relations of a Palestinian American teenager who was fatally shot within the occupied West Financial institution demanded on Saturday that authorities discover the killer of the 17-year-old, who was hit by a barrage of gunfire, his cousin mentioned, as the 2 had been getting down to have a picnic close to their village.
The dying of {the teenager}, whom the household recognized as Tawfic Abdel Jabbar, got here as tensions have been rising between Israel and the USA. The State Division confirmed that an American was killed within the West Financial institution on Friday with out releasing identification and referred to as on Israel to offer extra details about the dying.
With out naming {the teenager} or confirming his dying, the Israeli police mentioned in an announcement on Saturday that they had been investigating the taking pictures. The police mentioned that an Israeli civilian and an off-duty policeman had fired at “people purportedly engaged in rock-throwing actions.”
The Israeli military was investigating whether or not a soldier was additionally concerned within the taking pictures, in response to a navy spokesman. The navy and the police didn’t reply to requests for remark past their preliminary statements.
A distant cousin, Mohammad Ejak, 16, mentioned Tawfic was shot whereas driving to a grove of olive timber owned by the household, a few 15-minute drive from their village of Al-Mazra’a ash Sharqiyeh, close to Ramallah.
“We didn’t throw any rocks at anybody’s automotive, and we didn’t even get out of our personal automotive earlier than the photographs had been fired at us,” mentioned a visibly shaken Mohammad, who attended Tawfic’s funeral on Saturday. Mohammad mentioned he didn’t know the place the gunshots got here from and ducked under the dashboard when he heard the gunfire.
Tawfic was born to Palestinian mother and father and raised in a suburb of New Orleans, the place he attended the Muslim Academy Gretna Islamic College. The household, who’ve 4 different kids, determined to return to stay within the occupied West Financial institution when Tawfic was 16, a few 12 months and a half in the past, relations mentioned.
“The place is my son’s killer?” requested Hafeth Abdel Jabbar, Tawfic’s father, throughout the funeral. “He’s an American citizen who was shot in chilly blood, and as an American, he needs to be protected.”
Nabil Abukhader, the principal of the Muslim Academy in Gretna, La., and the top of the native mosque that the household attended, mentioned {the teenager} had hoped to enhance his Arabic whereas within the West Financial institution.
He described him as a quiet, well mannered and “very respectful” teenager who helped his father together with his shoe and clothes shops and sometimes took his siblings to highschool. The younger man was planning to check enterprise administration on the College of New Orleans, to assist develop his father’s companies, mentioned Mr. Abukhader, who spoke with The New York Instances from New Orleans.
The West Financial institution has been more and more on edge, as violence and Israeli navy raids have spiraled because the Oct. 7 Hamas assault on Israel. Greater than 340 Palestinians within the territory have been killed in clashes with Israeli troopers and civilians since Oct. 7, in response to the U.N. A two-day raid by the Israeli navy killed at least eight people this week.
John F. Kirby, the assistant to the secretary of protection for public affairs, mentioned in a State Division briefing on Friday that the USA had prolonged its condolences to kin of the American who was killed, with out straight naming the individual, and was “working to know the circumstances of the incident.”
“We’re significantly involved about these reviews,” Mr. Kirby mentioned. “The knowledge is scant presently. We don’t have good context about precisely what occurred right here.”
However, he added, “We’re going to be in fixed contact with counterparts within the area to get extra data.”
Anushka Patil and Gaya Gupta contributed reporting.