The New Orleans community is mourning the loss of a Palestinian-American teenager who was reportedly killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank, with a local mosque president telling Newsweek on Saturday that the teen had "his future life ahead of him."
A State Department spokesperson told Newsweek via email on Saturday that a U.S. citizen civilian in the Israeli-occupied West Bank died on Friday.
"We extend our deepest condolences to the family," the State Department said. "We are working to understand the circumstances of the incident and have asked the Government of Israel for further information. Out of respect to the family during this difficult time, we have no further comment."
Israel has not claimed responsibility for the death, but the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told Newsweek via email on Saturday that it received a report on Friday "regarding an off-duty police officer and a civilian who fired toward a Palestinian individual suspected of hurling rocks in the area of Al-Mazra'a ash-Sharqiya."
"An IDF soldier was present in the area. The claim that the soldier fired at the Palestinian is under review. The Israel Police have opened an investigation into the incident," the IDF added.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas led the deadliest Palestinian militant attack on Israel in history. Israel subsequently launched its heaviest-ever airstrikes on Gaza, home to more than 2 million Palestinians. Israeli officials have said that about 1,200 people in Israel were killed and some 250 hostages were taken in Hamas' attack, according to the Associated Press. Meanwhile, almost 25,000 Palestinians have been killed, officials from the health ministry in Gaza said.
Amid the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israeli forces have conducted near-daily raids into Palestinian villages and cities in the West Bank.
The teen who died was identified to Newsweek as 17-year-old Tawfic Abdel Jabbar, a Gretna, Louisiana, native, by Nabil Abukhader, the president of a local mosque called Masjid Omar, located in the greater New Orleans area in Harvey.
Abukhader told Newsweek via telephone on Saturday that Jabbar and his family moved to the West Bank for his senior year of high school after he finished 11th grade last May. He had plans of returning back to the U.S. to attend college at the University of New Orleans, according to the mosque president.
Abukhader said Jabbar was shot in the head by "the Israeli settlers" near the town of Al-Mazra'a in the West Bank.
Reuters reported that the teen was killed by Israeli security forces, according to Palestinian health officials. The outlet did not identify the boy, but said his uncle told the publication that the teen's death occurred amid fights with the Israeli military that included stone-throwing by Palestinians.
"Every time anybody loses a life it's sad. And it gets even worse when it's a young man and his future life ahead of him," the mosque president told Newsweek, who spoke highly of Jabbar and added,"He was very nice, very polite, very respectful, full of energy, never been in trouble in his life."
The mosque will hold a vigil for the teen on Saturday night.
On Friday, national security spokesman John Kirby said at a White House briefing about the incident, "We don't have perfect context about exactly what happened, but we're seriously concerned about it."
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