Palestinian-American of Tampa hit until death in the West Bank, says the family

The relatives of American Saifullah Kamel Musallet told CBS News on Saturday that Tampa’s 20 -year -old man was beaten until death on Friday by the settlers in those occupied by Israel. Bankwhere I was visiting the family.

Musallet was destined to return to Florida this week, their relatives said. He was killed in a confrontation with settlers While protecting the land of his family in the city of Sinjil, north of Ramallah, according to his family and the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

The settlers allegedly surrounded Musallet for more than three hours, preventing an ambulance and the paramedics from communicating with him, according to a family statement. His younger brother took him to an ambulance after the mafia cleared, but Musallet died before arriving at the hospital, according to the statement.

Mohammed Know Zaben, head of the local municipality of Al Sharqiya, told CBS News on Friday that most landowners in their region are Palestinians-American who have US citizens and that some have been physically attacked and that their properties destroyed the ongoing tensions between settlers and residents. He said that settlers have prevented Palestinian farmers from accessing their lands as part of a plan to establish an illegal advanced position in private property. According to international law, areas are known as A and B within occupied West Bank.

“He worked at his family’s ice cream shop in Tampa and was loved by so many people there. He was always friendly and compassionate,” said Primo Musallet Fatmah Muhammad, owner of a business in southern California.

A second man was shot fatally in the attacks, according to the Ministry of Health, which said that man was bleeding for hours.

A state department spokesman confirmed that an American citizen died in the West Bank on Friday, but sent questions about any investigation into the incident to Israel’s government. The United States Embassy in Jerusalem asked Israeli authorities for more details and is providing consular assistance to the family, according to an embassy spokesman.

“We are aware of the reports on a murdered Palestinian civilian and several Palestinians injured as a result of confrontation, and Israel’s police examine them,” said a statement on Friday of the Israel defense forces.

Musallet’s family, meanwhile, asked the United States to investigate.

“We demand that the United States Department of the United States lead immediate investigation and hold the Israeli settlers who killed Saif responsible for their crimes,” said the family’s statement.

The FBI declined to comment and the White House did not respond to the applications of CBS News.

It is not clear who was among the group of settlers accused of killing Musallet until death. The State Department said it depended on the Israeli police investigate.

In January, President Trump terminated US sanctions to the groups of extreme right and extremists accused of violence against the Palestinians in occupied West Bank. The then President Joe Biden had instituted sanctions in 2024 on people who undermined stability in the West Bank, and the State Department instituted prohibitions of visas and imposed sanctions on a violent Israeli settlement and the director of a group accused of undermining stability in the West Bank

The Treasury department also specifically sanctioned Hilltop Youth, a violent extremist group to attack the Palestinians and their properties in the West Bank, as well as an organization of settlements involved with people accused of committing violence.

During his first term, Trump rescinds the American policy of long data that the agreements are illegal, before Biden restored it.

Violence in the West Bank It is increasing, with Israeli settlers expanding their efforts to occupy land in the controversial region. Musallet is the fifth American to be killed in the West Bank since the beginning of the Israel-Ahamas War on October 7, 2023.