Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that the US is in the process of "gathering more information" on the murder of a Palestinian American in the occupied West Bank.
"We want to get all the information about who was involved. We protect all American citizens anywhere in the world, especially if they're unjustly murdered or killed," Rubio told reporters in the Oval Office. "So, we're gathering more information. But I hope you saw yesterday, Ambassador (Mike) Huckabee in Israel asked the Israeli authorities to produce an investigation and concrete information about who was responsible for his murder."
Rubio was referring to Sayfollah Musallet, who was beaten to death Friday by illegal Israeli settlers while visiting his family in the occupied West Bank.
Musallet's family said in a statement that Israeli settlers surrounded him and prevented an ambulance and paramedics from reaching him to deliver life-saving care for three hours. He died before reaching a hospital.
Violence by Israeli settlers has escalated sharply in recent months, with what rights groups sometimes describe as "pogroms" being carried out against Palestinian communities throughout the occupied territory.
In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory illegal, and demanded the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Since the start of Israel's genocidal war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023, at least 998 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the West Bank by Israeli forces and illegal settlers, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
