Mourners carry the bodies of Mohammad al-Shalabi, 23, and Sayafollah Musallet, 20, during their funeral on July 13, 2025, in Al-Mazra’a ash-Sharqiya, east of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. (Mohammad Nazal / Middle East Images via AFP)
(JTA) — The family of a 20-year-old Palestinian-American man they say was beaten to death Friday by Israeli settlers in the West Bank has called on the U.S. State Department to investigate the incident.
“This is an unimaginable nightmare and injustice that no family should ever have to face,” the family of Sayafollah Musallet, also known as Saif, said in a statement. “We demand the U.S. State Department lead an immediate investigation and hold the Israeli settlers who killed Saif accountable for their crimes.”
According to his family and the Palestinian Health Ministry, Musallet had come from his home in Florida to the town of al-Mazra’a ash-Sharqiya to visit relatives, was severely beaten while protecting his family’s land in the town of Sinjil, north of Ramallah. Another man, Hussein Al-Shalabi, 23, was fatally shot in the chest.
A State Department spokesperson confirmed in a statement that a U.S. citizen died in the West Bank on Friday but referred questions about any investigation into the incident to Israel’s government.
The killings come as tensions among Israeli settlers, Palestinians and the Israeli Defense Forces in the West Bank have escalated in recent weeks. Last month, far-right settler groups violently attacked two Palestinian villages in the West Bank and rioted outside of a major Israeli security facility.
Many extremist settlers are seen as emboldened following the Trump administration’s decision to cancel sanctions targeting dozens of far-right Israeli individuals and settler organizations accused by the Biden administration of violent extremism against Palestinians.
Following the confrontation on Friday, settlers allegedly blocked an ambulance and paramedics from reaching Musallet for three hours. Once the mob cleared, Mussallet’s younger brother carried him to an ambulance, but he died before reaching the hospital, according to a statement from the family.
The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem asked Israeli authorities for further details of Friday’s incident and is providing consular assistance to the family, an embassy spokesperson told CBS News.
“We are aware of reports regarding a Palestinian civilian killed and a number of injured Palestinians as a result of the confrontation, and they are being looked into by the ISA and Israel Police,” a statement on Friday from the Israel Defense Forces read.
Musallet was born and grew up in Port Charlotte, Florida, his father, Kamel Musallet, told the Washington Post. The pair were working together at an ice cream and dessert shop they opened recently in Tampa.
“He worked at his family’s ice cream shop in Tampa and was loved by so many people there. He was always kind and compassionate,” Musallet’s cousin Fatmah Muhammad told CBS News.
The town he was visiting, Al-Mazra’a ash-Sharqiya, has been dubbed the “Miami of the West Bank” for its large population of Palestinian expats that return to the town each summer, bringing wealth with them.
Following the killings, the liberal Israel lobby J Street called for “an independent, US-led investigation into the incident and its aftermath” in a statement.
“The unimaginable nightmare these families are enduring must not be compounded by injustice, inaction and a lack of accountability,” J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami said in the statement. “As Jewish and pro‑Israel Americans, we have an obligation to demand better.”
