By MELANIE LIDMAN
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A tragic incident unfolded in the Israeli-occupied West Bank late Wednesday, resulting in the death of a 19-year-old Palestinian-American, as reported by the Palestinian Health Ministry.
According to the ministry, Nasrallah Muhammad Jamal Abu Siyam was fatally shot in the village of Mukhmas, situated to the north of Jerusalem, allegedly by settlers.
The Israeli military stated that their forces were called to address a violent altercation in the vicinity and attempted to disperse what they described as a riot. During this confrontation, suspects reportedly fired upon several Palestinians, who were subsequently taken for medical assistance.
Abu Siyam’s mother informed The Associated Press of her son’s dual Palestinian and American citizenship. However, the U.S. Embassy declined to provide comments on Thursday.
In recent years, violence attributed to extremist settlers in the West Bank has significantly increased, contributing to the ongoing tensions in the region. For more details, visit this link.
Palestinians and rights groups say authorities routinely fail to prosecute settlers or hold them accountable for violence. Under National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, investigations into settler attacks have plummeted, according to the Israeli rights group Yesh Din.
In a rare move earlier this week, Israeli prosecutors announced they plan to charge a settler in the killing of a Palestinian activist during a confrontation that was caught on video.
More than 3.4 million Palestinians and 700,000 Israelis live in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories captured by Israel in 1967 and sought by Palestinians for a future state. The international community overwhelmingly considers Israeli settlement construction in these areas to be illegal and an obstacle to peace.
Report finds Palestinian journalists imprisoned in Israel were tortured
The Committee to Protect Journalists said that dozens of Palestinian journalists who were detained in Israel during the war in Gaza experienced terrible conditions, including physical assaults, forced stress positions, sensory deprivation, sexual violence and medical neglect.
CPJ has documented the detention of at least 94 Palestinian journalists and one media worker during the war in Gaza. It covers 32 journalists and one media worker from Gaza, 60 from the West Bank, and two from Israel. Thirty of the journalists are still in custody, CPJ said.
The report found that half of the journalists detained were never charged with a crime and were held under Israel’s administrative detention system, which allows for suspects deemed a security risk to be held for six months and can be renewed indefinitely.
Israel’s prison services did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the report, but had rejected a similar report in January about conditions for Palestinian prisoners as “false allegations,” contending it operates lawfully, is subject to oversight and reviews complaints.
UN development chief says removing Gaza rubble will take 7 years
The vast destruction across Gaza will take at least seven years just to remove the rubble, according to the United Nations Development Program.
Alexander De Croo, the former Belgian prime minister who just returned from Gaza, said that the UNDP had removed just 0.5% of the rubble and people in Gaza are experiencing “the worst living conditions that I have ever seen.”
De Croo said 90% of Gaza’s 2.2 million people live in “very, very rudimentary tents” in the middle of the rubble, which poses health dangers and a danger from exploding weapons.
He said UNDP has been able to build 500 improved housing units, and has 4,000 more that are ready, but estimates the true need is 200,000 to 300,000 units. The units are meant to be used temporarily while reconstruction takes place. He called on Israel to expand access for goods and items needed for reconstruction and the private sector to begin development.
Associated Press writer Edith Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
