The school courtyard in al-Mazra’a al-Sharqiya has been transformed into a mourning tent after two young men were killed in what their families describe as the latest attack by Israeli settlers. Sayfollah Musallet, a 20-year-old US citizen from Florida, and Mohammed al-Shalabi, 23, were killed during Friday’s attack, as residents say the settlers blocked efforts to help the dying youths.
Razek Hassan al-Shalabi, Mohammad’s father, sat among the town’s inhabitants and relatives who came to mourn the young men at the school. “In the morning he told me he wanted to get married,” he told DW. “He talked about starting a family, and now we bury him.” Across the street, at the Musallet home, women gathered to support the family in their grief. Saif, as Sayfollah was nicknamed, had arrived in June from his hometown, Tampa, to spend the summer with relatives in the town.
On Friday, the family released a statement saying medics had tried to reach Musallet for three hours before his brother managed to carry him to an ambulance. He died before they could make it to the hospital. “This is an unimaginable nightmare and injustice that no family should ever have to face,” the family said. “We demand the US State Department lead an immediate investigation and hold the Israeli settlers who killed Saif accountable for their crimes.”
The State Department said it is aware of reports of a death of a US citizen in the West Bank. Officials declined to comment further “out of respect for the privacy of the family” but said the department was ready “to provide consular services.”
Source: https://www.dw.com/en/west-bank-deadly-israeli-settler-attack-on-palestinians/a-73261913?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf
