They are using American taxpayer money to “kill our own children,” the father said after Israeli soldiers and settlers opened fire, killing his 17-year-old son.
Palestinian American Tawfiq Ajaq, 17, is one of 369 people killed by Israeli troops and settlers in the occupied West Bank since October, including 95 children.
Speaking at his son’s funeral Saturday, Tawfiq’s father, Hafez Ajaq, implored Americans to “see with their own eyes” the continuing violence in the occupied West Bank.
“In the United States, they are using our tax money to buy weapons to kill our own children,” said Hafez Ajaq. “How many fathers and mothers have to say goodbye to their children? How much more?
“They are killing machines,” Tawfiq’s father said of Israeli forces at the funeral.
Born and raised in Gretna, Louisiana, near New Orleans, Tawfiq Ajaq’s parents took him and his four siblings to the village of al-Mazra’a Asharqiya last year so they can reconnect with Palestinian culture.
Tawfiq Hafez Tawfiq Ajaq, 17, a US citizen, was killed yesterday when an Israeli settler and Israeli forces opened fire on his car in the occupied West Bank. It is still unclear whether it was the settler or a soldier who fired the bullet that hit him in the head. pic.twitter.com/nYEULLlWCM
– Children’s Defense (@DCIPalestine) January 20, 2024
On Saturday, crowds of Palestinians filled the streets of the village, following men who held up a stretcher with the teenager’s body, wrapped in a Palestinian flag and covered in flowers.
Another vigil held at the Masjid Omar mosque in Harvey, New Orleans, was standing room only, according to New Orleans news outlet NOLA.com.
Unclear circumstances
Ajaq’s relative, Joe Abdel Qaki, said Tawfiq and a friend were barbecuing in a field in the village when he was shot, once in the head and once in the chest.
Abdel Qaki said he arrived at the field shortly after the shooting and helped carry Tawfiq to an ambulance. He said Israeli forces briefly detained him and other Palestinians at the scene, asking for their identification cards before the men could go to Tawfiq.
He said Tawfiq died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.
“Tawfiq is an American child who was chased and shot by an Israeli settler, then Israeli forces stopped and continued shooting,” said Miranda Cleland, advocacy fellow at Defense for Children Palestine, in an article on X .
“This is not the first time that Defense for Children Palestine has not been able to confirm whether a settler or soldier killed a child. One helps and encourages the other,” Cleland said.
The US Office of Palestinian Affairs called for an “urgent investigation” into Ajaq’s death in an article on X.
Devastated to learn of the murder of a 17-year-old American citizen, Tawfic Abdel Jabbar. We are calling for an urgent investigation to determine the circumstances of his death.
– US Office of Palestinian Affairs (@USPalAffairs) January 20, 2024
Various English spellings of the teenager’s name were used in the reports.
In its daily update on Friday, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA reported that a “17-year-old Palestinian child was shot and killed” near the village of al-Mazra’a Asharqiya in Ramallah where Tawfiq lived Ajaq.
“At the time of the incident, Israeli forces and settlers fired live ammunition at a group of Palestinians who allegedly threw stones at Israeli vehicles traveling on Route 60 near the village,” OCHA said.
“It is not yet clear whether the boy was shot by Israeli forces or by settlers,” OCHA said.
According to the latest figures from OCHA, of 358 Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank since October 7, “348 were killed by Israeli forces, eight by Israeli settlers and two by Israeli forces or by settlers.”
Israeli police said they received a report Friday of a “discharge of a firearm, apparently involving an off-duty law enforcement officer, a soldier and a civilian.”
Police did not identify the shooter, although they said the shots were aimed at people “allegedly engaged in rock-throwing activities along Highway 60,” the main northbound artery. southern occupied West Bank.
The continued violence in the occupied West Bank comes as the death toll from Israel’s war on Gaza approaches 25,000, with thousands more missing under the rubble.
