The household of a United States citizen who was killed in a settler assault within the occupied West Financial institution is asking on the administration of President Donald Trump to open its personal investigation into the incident.
Kin of Khamis Ayyad, 40, who died within the city of Silwad, north of Ramallah, on Thursday, confirmed on Friday that he was an American citizen and known as for justice within the case.
Ayyad — a father of 5 and a former Chicago resident — was the second US citizen to be killed within the West Financial institution in July. Earlier that month, Israeli settlers beat 20-year-old Sayfollah Musallet to demise in Sinjil, a city that neighbours Silwad.
Standing alongside Ayyad’s family members, William Asfour, the operations coordinator for the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), described the killing as “homicide”.
“We demand a full investigation from the Division of Justice,” Asfour stated. “An American citizen was killed. The place’s the accountability?”
Based on Mahmoud Issa, the slain 40-year-old’s cousin, settlers torched vehicles outdoors Ayyad’s dwelling round daybreak on Thursday.
Ayyad woke as much as put out the hearth, however then the Israeli military confirmed up on the scene and began firing tear fuel in his route.
The household believes that Ayyad died from inhaling tear fuel and smoke from the burning autos.
‘What number of extra?’
Settler assaults in opposition to Palestinian communities within the West Financial institution, which US officers have described as “terrorism”, have been escalating for months, notably since Israel launched its conflict on Gaza in October 2023.
The Israeli residents of unlawful settlements have descended on Palestinian communities, ransacked neighbourhoods and set vehicles and houses ablaze.
The settlers, protected by the Israeli army, are sometimes armed and fireplace at will in opposition to Palestinians who attempt to cease them.
The Israeli military has additionally been intensifying its lethal raids, dwelling demolitions and displacement campaigns within the West Financial institution.
Simply this previous month, Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, accredited a non-binding movement to annex the West Financial institution.
And on Thursday, two high Israeli ministers, Yariv Levin and Israel Katz, known as the current circumstances “a second of alternative” to claim “Israeli sovereignty” over the world.
In the meantime, Israel continues to hold out a brutal assault in Gaza, which rights teams have stated quantities to a genocide.
CAIR-Chicago’s Asfour confused on Friday that Ayyad’s killing isn’t an isolated incident.
“One other American was killed within the West Financial institution simply weeks in the past,” he stated, referring to Musallet.
“What number of extra earlier than the US takes motion to guard its residents overseas? Settlers burn houses, troopers again them up, and our authorities sends billions to fund all of this.”
The US Division of State didn’t reply to Al Jazeera’s request for remark by the point of publication.
No arrests in Musallet’s case
Final month, Musallet’s household additionally urged a US investigation into his killing.
However Washington has resisted calls to probe Israel’s abuses in opposition to Americans, arguing that Israeli authorities are finest geared up to analyze their very own army forces and settlers.
Mike Huckabee, US ambassador to Israel, known as on Israel to “aggressively examine the homicide” of Musallet in July.
“There should be accountability for this prison and terrorist act,” he wrote in a social media publish.
However greater than 21 days after the incident, there was no arrest within the case. Since 2022, Israeli troopers and settlers have killed not less than 10 US residents. Not one of the instances have resulted in prison fees.
Ayyad was killed as Israeli forces proceed to detain US teenager Mohammed Ibrahim with out trial or entry to his household.
Mohammed, 16, has been jailed since February, and his household says it has obtained studies that he’s drastically shedding pounds and affected by a pores and skin an infection.
On Friday, Illinois State Consultant Abdelnasser Rashid known as Ayyad’s demise a part of an “ugly sample of settler colonial violence” in Palestine.
He known as for repealing an Illinois state regulation that penalises boycotts of Israeli companies.
“We’d like motion. Right here in Illinois, we’ve a regulation that punishes firms that select to do the correct factor by boycotting Israel,” Rashid informed reporters.
“This shameful state regulation helps protect Israel’s violence and brutality from penalties.”