PALESTINA - Two Palestinians, one a dual US citizen, have been killed in an attack by Israeli settlers on a town in the north of the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
The Israeli military said stones were thrown at Israelis near Sinjil and that "a violent con-frontation developed in the area". It added that security forces were looking into the reports of one Palestinian being killed, and the incident involving the second was under review. There has been a surge in violence in the West Bank since Hamas's attack on southern Isra-el on 7 October 2023, which triggered the war in Gaza.
The UN says at least 910 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank, 13 by Israeli settlers, and another seven by either Israeli forces or settlers. At least 44 Israelis have also been killed in Palestinian attacks on Israel and the West Bank. Sayfollah Musal-let, a 23-year-old dual US citizen from Florida, was fatally beaten during the incident in Sin-jil, the Palestinian ministry said.
The second man, Mohammed al-Shalabi, also 23, died after being shot in the chest, it added. The US state department said it was "aware of reports of the death of a US citizen in the West Bank", and that it had no further comment "out of respect for the privacy of the family".
Sayfollah Musallet, a businessman whose nickname was Saif, travelled from his home in Tampa to the West Bank on 4 June, according to his family. A statement alleged that he was "brutally beaten to death by Israeli settlers while he was protecting his family's land from settlers who were attempting to steal it". "Israeli settlers surrounded Saif for over three hours as paramedics attempted to reach him, but the mob of settlers blocked the ambu-lance and paramedics from providing life-saving aid." "After the mob of Israeli settlers cleared, Saif's younger brother rushed to carry his brother to the ambulance. Saif died be-fore making it to the hospital." (BBC)