Members of the family 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 stated, as the 2 had been getting down to have a picnic close to their village.
The loss of life of {the teenager}, whom the household recognized as Tawfic Abdel Jabbar, got here as tensions have been rising between Israel and america. The State Division confirmed that an American was killed within the West Financial institution on Friday with out releasing identification and known as on Israel to offer extra details about the loss of life.
With out naming {the teenager} or confirming his loss of life, the Israeli police stated in an announcement on Saturday that they had been investigating the taking pictures. The police stated 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, based on 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, stated Tawfic was shot whereas driving to a grove of olive timber owned by the household, a couple of 15-minute drive from their village of Al-Mazra’a ash Sharqiyeh, close to Ramallah.
“We didn’t throw any rocks at anybody’s automobile, and we didn’t even get out of our personal automobile earlier than the pictures had been fired at us,” stated a visibly shaken Mohammad, who attended Tawfic’s funeral on Saturday. Mohammad stated 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 dad and mom 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 couple of 12 months and a half in the past, members of the family stated.
“The place is my son’s killer?” requested Hafeth Abdel Jabbar, Tawfic’s father, through the funeral. “He’s an American citizen who was shot in chilly blood, and as an American, he ought to be protected.”
Nabil Abukhader, the principal of the Muslim Academy in Gretna, La., and the pinnacle of the native mosque that the household attended, stated {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 infrequently took his siblings to highschool. The younger man was planning to review enterprise administration on the College of New Orleans, to assist develop his father’s companies, stated Mr. Abukhader, who spoke with The New York Occasions from New Orleans.
The West Financial institution has been more and more on edge, as violence and Israeli navy raids have spiraled for the reason that 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, based on the U.N. A two-day raid by the Israeli navy killed a minimum of eight folks this week.
John F. Kirby, the assistant to the secretary of protection for public affairs, stated in a State Division briefing on Friday that america had prolonged its condolences to relations of the American who was killed, with out instantly naming the individual, and was “working to grasp the circumstances of the incident.”
“We’re significantly involved about these studies,” Mr. Kirby stated. “The knowledge is scant presently. We don’t have excellent 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.
