Father of American teen killed in West Bank by Israeli fire rails against US support for Israel

The father of an American teen killed by Israeli fire in the occupied West Bank railed against Washington's military support for Israel, as hundreds of mourners buried the 17-year-old in the family's ancestral Palestinian village Saturday.

The death of Tawfiq Ajaq on Friday drew an immediate expression of concern from the White House.

It was the latest fatal shooting in the West Bank, where nearly 370 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the outbreak of the Israel's war on Gaza more than three months ago.

The Biden administration has repeatedly expressed concern about violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in recent months.

During Saturday's funeral, the teen's father criticised the long-standing U.S. support for Israel. "They are killer machines," he said of Israeli forces. "They are using our tax dollars in the U.S. to support the weapons to kill our own children."

Tawfiq Ajaq was born and raised in Gretna, Louisiana, near New Orleans, relatives said. His parents brought him and his four siblings to the village of Al-Mazra’a Ash-Sharqiya last year so they could reconnect with Palestinian culture.

On Saturday, crowds of Palestinians pulsed through village streets, following men who held aloft a stretcher with the teen's body, wrapped in a Palestinian flag.

Hafez Ajaq implored Americans to "see with their own eyes" the ongoing violence in the West Bank.

"The American society does not know the true story," he said. "Come here on the ground and see what’s going on. ... How many fathers and mothers have to say goodbye to their children? How many more?"

The circumstances of the shooting remained unclear.

Ajaq's relative, Joe Abdel Qaki, said that Ajaq and a friend were having a barbecue in a village field when he was shot by Israeli fire, once in the head and once in the chest.

Analysis: The US is not just a supporter of Israel's war, it has actively facilitated it through military planning, arms supplies, and vetoes at the UN

In Gaza, the US is an active partner in Israel's war ⬇️

✍️ @GiorgioCafierohttps://t.co/8qU4gSiGbv

— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) January 18, 2024

Abdel Qaki said he arrived at the field shortly after the shooting and helped transport Ajaq to an ambulance. He said Israeli forces briefly detained him and other Palestinians at the scene, asking for their IDs before the men could get to Ajaq.

He said Ajaq died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.

Israeli police said they received a report Friday regarding a "firearm discharge, ostensibly involving an off-duty law enforcement officer, a soldier and a civilian." Police did not identify who fired the shot, though it said the shooting targeted people "purportedly engaged in rock-throwing activities along Highway 60," the main north-south thoroughfare in the West Bank.

Al-Mazra’a Ash-Sharqiya is located just east of the highway.

Police claimed the incident would be investigated. But investigations of those involved in fatal shootings of Palestinians by Israel's police and military have rarely yielded speedy results, and indictments are uncommon.

Asked about the shooting, U.S. national security spokesman John Kirby said that officials at the White House were "seriously concerned about these reports."

"The information is scant at this time. We don’t have perfect context about exactly what happened here," Kirby said. "We’re going to be in constant touch with counterparts in the region to — to get more information."

Since 7 October, tensions have run high across the West Bank as Israel unleashed its deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip. These operations have included raiding homes, storming residential areas, and conducting arbitrary arrest campaigns against civilians.

The Palestinian Health Ministry says 369 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since October 7. In several documented instances, Israeli forces and settlers have killed Palestinians who witnesses report were not engaged in violence.

The U.S. has given military and diplomatic support to Israel's war on Gaza, but has urged Israel to scale back the intensity of its attacks. Nearly 25,000 Palestinians have been killed so far in Israel's air and ground offensive, Gaza health officials said.

Israel annexed the West Bank, along with East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the Six-Day 1967 war. It left Gaza in 2005 but continued to occupy the West Bank and East Jerusalem, building settlements which are illegal under international law. The Palestinians seek those territories for a future independent state.