The US is calling for a rapid investigation into the killing of 17-year-old Tawfiq Ajaq in the occupied West Bank.

The United States has called on Israel to open an investigation into the death of Tawfiq Ajaq, a 17-year-old Palestinian-American who Palestinian authorities say was killed by Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank.

At a news conference in Washington, DC on Monday, US State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters that the US was “devastated by the killing” and continues to “work closely with the Israeli government to obtain as much information as possible.” possible to obtain”.

“We have called for an urgent investigation to establish the circumstances surrounding his death,” Patel said. He added that the head of the US Office of Palestinian Affairs visited Ajaq’s family to express his condolences and that he would continue to assist them along with the US Embassy in Jerusalem.

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

Ajaq’s relative Joe Abdel Qaki said it was Tawfiq and a friend Barbecuing in a village field when he was shot.

At his son’s funeral on Saturday, Tawfiq’s father, Hafez Ajaq, said Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank were “killing machines.”

Israeli police said they received a report on Friday of a “firearms discharge allegedly involving an off-duty police officer, a soldier and a civilian.”

Police did not disclose who fired the shot, but said the shooting was directed at people “allegedly engaged in rock-throwing activities along Highway 60,” the main north-south highway in the occupied West Bank.

“This is not the first time that Defense for Children Palestine has been unable to confirm whether a settler or a soldier killed a child. “One supports and promotes the other,” said Miranda Cleland, an advocacy officer at Defense for Children Palestine, in a post on X.

Tawfiq is an American child who was chased and shot at by an Israeli settler. THEN Israeli forces moved in and continued firing. This is not the first time @DCIPalestine could not confirm whether a settler or a soldier killed a child. One supports and supports the other. https://t.co/hvwD8LYuZM

— Miranda Cleland (@MirandaCleland) January 20, 2024

Since October, at least 369 people have been killed by Israeli troops and settlers in the occupied West Bank, including 95 children.

Also the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). written down that 2023 was the deadliest year for children in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, with 124 Palestinian and six Israeli children killed there since the beginning of the year.

Mustafa Barghouti, Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative Party, told Al Jazeera said the increasing raids and attacks in the occupied West Bank were an attempt by Israel to “fully” reoccupy the territory.

“This is a clear message from [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu,” Barghouti said. “He says there is no longer room for an independent Palestinian Authority here. He is re-occupying the West Bank while trying to re-occupy Gaza.”