The family of a United States citizen who was killed in a settler attack in the occupied West Bank is calling on the administration of President Donald Trump to open its own investigation into the incident.
Relatives of Khamis Ayyad, 40, who died in the town of Silwad, north of Ramallah, on Thursday, confirmed on Friday that he was an American citizen and called for justice in the case.
Ayyad — a father of five and a former Chicago resident — was the second US citizen to be killed in the West Bank in July. Earlier that month, Israeli settlers beat 20-year-old Sayfollah Musallet to death in Sinjil, a town that neighbours Silwad.
Standing alongside Ayyad’s relatives, William Asfour, the operations coordinator for the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), described the killing as “murder”.
“We demand a full investigation from the Department of Justice,” Asfour said. “An American citizen was killed. Where’s the accountability?”
According to Mahmoud Issa, the slain 40-year-old’s cousin, settlers torched cars outside Ayyad’s home around dawn on Thursday.
Ayyad woke up to put out the fire, but then the Israeli army showed up at the scene and started firing tear gas in his direction.
The family believes that Ayyad died from inhaling tear gas and smoke from the burning vehicles.
‘How many more?’
Settler attacks against Palestinian communities in the West Bank, which US officials have described as “terrorism”, have been escalating for months, particularly since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023.
The Israeli residents of illegal settlements have descended on Palestinian communities, ransacked neighbourhoods and set cars and homes ablaze.
The settlers, protected by the Israeli military, are often armed and fire at will against Palestinians who try to stop them.
The Israeli military has also been intensifying its deadly raids, home demolitions and displacement campaigns in the West Bank.
Just this past month, Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, approved a non-binding motion to annex the West Bank.
And on Thursday, two top Israeli ministers, Yariv Levin and Israel Katz, called the present circumstances “a moment of opportunity” to assert “Israeli sovereignty” over the area.
Meanwhile, Israel continues to carry out a brutal assault in Gaza, which rights groups have said amounts to a genocide.
CAIR-Chicago’s Asfour stressed on Friday that Ayyad’s killing is not an isolated incident.
“Another American was killed in the West Bank just weeks ago,” he said, referring to Musallet.
“How many more before the US takes action to protect its citizens abroad? Settlers burn homes, soldiers back them up, and our government sends billions to fund all of this.”
The US Department of State did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment by the time of publication.
No arrests in Musallet’s case
Last month, Musallet’s family also urged a US investigation into his killing.
But Washington has resisted calls to probe Israel’s abuses against American citizens, arguing that Israeli authorities are best equipped to investigate their own military forces and settlers.
Mike Huckabee, US ambassador to Israel, called on Israel to “aggressively investigate the murder” of Musallet in July.
“There must be accountability for this criminal and terrorist act,” he wrote in a social media post.
But more than 21 days after the incident, there has been no arrest in the case. Since 2022, Israeli soldiers and settlers have killed at least 10 US citizens. None of the cases have resulted in criminal charges.
Ayyad was killed as Israeli forces continue to detain US teenager Mohammed Ibrahim without trial or access to his family.
Mohammed, 16, has been jailed since February, and his family says it has received reports that he is drastically losing weight and suffering from a skin infection.
On Friday, Illinois State Representative Abdelnasser Rashid called Ayyad’s death part of an “ugly pattern of settler colonial violence” in Palestine.
He called for repealing an Illinois state law that penalises boycotts of Israeli firms.
“We need action. Here in Illinois, we have a law that punishes companies that choose to do the right thing by boycotting Israel,” Rashid told reporters.
“This shameful state law helps shield Israel’s violence and brutality from consequences.”
